BP to raise $363m from Malaysian sales

BP is selling its stakes in two Malaysian petrochemical production businesses to Malaysia's Petronas for $363m (£235m) to help raise money to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The group has pledged to create a $30bn fund to help pay for the clean-up after the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in April. The sale includes BP's 15 per cent slice of Ethylene Malaysia and 60 per cent holding in Polyethylene Malaysia, companies in which the state-owned Petronas already has big stakes. BP will also be eligible for a further $48m dividend from the ethylene business.

BP will continue to focus on its petrochemicals business in China, the London-listed oil giant said yesterday. Sue Rataj, the president of BP's Global Petrochemicals Business, said: "BP will continue to focus on the development and expansion of our olefins and derivatives business in China, and other large rapidly growing markets, and pursue opportunities in China and India to extend our leading world positions in aromatics and acetyls."