(SINGAPORE) BP's US$10 billion-plus deal to supply feedstocks and take some end-products from the upcoming US$2 billion Jurong Aromatics Corporation (JAC) project on Jurong Island still stands, as does its commitment to provide about US$35 million in mezzanine loans to JAC, sources said.
The oil company is also not looking at selling its Asean assets, such as its lubricants plant in Tuas and its chemicals plant in Trengganu, Malaysia, a BP Singapore spokeswoman said.
They were responding to reports yesterday that BP was planning to dispose of assets totalling some US$30 billion over the next 18 months following the US$32.2 billion pre-tax provision it has made for cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and to compensate its victims.
BP said last week that it sold US$7 billion of assets in the US, Canada and Egypt to Apache Corp. It also plans to sell holdings in Pakistan and Vietnam.
BP, which used to have oil refining and petrol station operations here, including a one-third share in the Singapore Refining Company refinery on Jurong Island, sold out of these businesses when it sold its SRC stake to Singapore Petroleum Company and Chevron.
Apart from its considerable oil trading operations at Harbourfront, its only remaining asset here is its Castrol lubricants plant in Tuas.
Castrol was acquired by BP in 2000 and has become the leading brand within BP's lubricants business.
In Singapore, the Castrol plant at Jalan Tepong produces and distributes metalworking fluids and high-performance lubricants for industrial applications.
'At this moment, apart from what has been announced, we are not aware of any asset disposals being made in Asia,' the BP spokeswoman said.
Sources at JAC meanwhile said that despite its Gulf of Mexico woes, BP remains committed to JAC's aromatics plant investment. 'It's still a business deal for them,' one source stressed, referring to the US$10 billion-plus deal under which BP will supply feedstock, including Middle East condensate, to JAC and will also take some of JAC's end-products such as kerosene and jet fuel.
JAC is going out to the financial market next month to sew up project funding before starting construction of the 1.5 million tonnes per year aromatics complex, and 'BP is still committed to providing some US$35 million of mezzanine debt'.
BP's oil trading and marine bunker operations here employ about 600 staff, of which almost 250 are involved in oil trading. The oil company is Singapore's biggest marine fuels supplier by volume, accounting for about 10 per cent of the average monthly volume of 3.2 million-3.3 million tonnes.