BP was in talks with India's Reliance Industries and Essar Group to sell its African retail assets, which could be worth as much as $500 million, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said yesterday. It was not known whether BP was showing the African assets to other potential buyers.
BP plans to sell $30bn of assets over the next 18 months to cover costs related to the US oil spill. Reliance Industries, India's largest listed conglomerate, and steel-to-shipping conglomerate Essar declined to comment.
