BP will ignore “sentiment” and “history” in pruning its portfolio of assets, says its new-ish boss, Meg O’Neill. She demonstrated as much last week when putting the company’s 60-year-old North Sea oil and gas business up for sale, explaining on Tuesday that “it just doesn’t compete” in the internal battle for capital.
Now comes a disposal that sends an equally unsentimental message about priorities. The US biogas business, Archaea, which was a prized acquisition in the brief green-tinged era of Bernard Looney, is on the block less than four years after BP bought it for $4bn (£2.98bn).
