BP Raises Asset-Sale Goal To $40B

BP (NYSE: BP), Europe's second-largest oil company by market value, raised its goal for asset sales to $40 billion from $30 as the cost of paying for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues to rise.

Last week, BP said its costs associated with the spill have surged to $8 billion and that it was aiming for $27.2 billion in asset sales.

BP has put its $20 billion stake in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay up for sale, and is in the process of disposing of between $5 billion and $10 billion of its assets to TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture, Bloomberg News reported, citing London's Sunday Times.