/HONG KONG (Reuters) - BP Plc<BP.L> pushed ahead with plans to sell assets in Vietnam, Colombia and Venezuela, as it scrambles to hive off $30 billion of assets to pay to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The planned sales also aim to create a leaner company with the potential for higher growth. Last week, the oil major agreed a $7 billion sale of oil and gas fields to Apache Corp<APA.N>, in its first major sell-off.
BP has hired advisers to sell its stakes in oil fields and gas projects in Colombia and Vietnam, according to separate sources familiar with the matter on Thursday.
And Russia's TNK-BP<TNBPI.RTS>, in which BP has a half stake, said it was considering buying BP's Venezuelan interests, which analysts value at $850 million to $1 billion.
BP has hired Barclays Capital to sell its Colombian assets, according to two people familiar with the matter. Analysts value that business, based around the Cusiana and Cupiagua fields, at $1.5 to $2 billion.
BP discovered the Colombian fields in the early 1990s. Their production peaked in 1999, at an average rate of 434,000 barrels per day (bpd).
BP handed over the operation of the Cupiagua field this month to state oil company Ecopetrol SA but still operates Cusiana. Cupiagua output was then running at 26,000 bpd.
VENEZUELA
In Moscow, a TNK-BP spokesman told Reuters it was "actively evaluating the opportunity to participate in the assets," and said a deal "would be beneficial for both companies and would foster further development of Venezuela's oil sector".
TNK already invests in a Russian National Oil Consortium joint venture with Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA, he added.
In Venezuela, BP has minority stakes in two exploration and production joint ventures with PDVSA. It is also a partner in the Petromonagas crude upgrader that produces 110,000 bpd, with gross reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Graphic on BP's potential disposals, click http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/2010/JULY/DEAL.jpg
GAS PROJECT
Three other people familiar with the situation said the British oil giant recently tapped HSBC to sell its stake in the Nam Con Son gas project in Vietnam.
BP said last week it was seeking a buyer for its stake in the Nam Con Son gas project offshore southern Ho Chi Minh City, worth $966 million in one estimate.
India's state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and PetroVietnam -- both partners with BP in the Nam Con Son project -- are expected to submit a joint formal offer within weeks to buy BP's stake.
BP declined to comment. A Barclays spokesman was not immediately available to comment. A Hong Kong spokeswoman for HSBC declined to comment.
(Additional reporting by Tom Bergin in London and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; editing by Karen Foster)
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