BHP Agrees to Sell Oil Business in $13 Billion All-stock Deal

After weeks of speculation, BHP Group agreed to sell its petroleum business to Woodside Petroleum Ltd. on Aug. 17 in a merger the companies said in a joint release will create a global top 10 independent energy company worth about $28 billion.

“The merger of our petroleum assets with Woodside will create an organization with the scale, capability and expertise to meet global demand for key oil and gas resources the world will need over the energy transition,” commented BHP CEO Mike Henry in the release.

The sale of BHP’s oil and gas assets to Australia’s Woodside, which analysts expected could fetch anywhere between $10 billion and $17 billion, would create a new international “super independent” with a long-term focus on LNG but exposure in the medium term to high-margin, deepwater oil, according to Wood Mackenzie research director Andrew Harwood.