BP PLC says it is negotiating the sale of part of its Wyoming assets, but insists the move is not related to the company’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a company spokesperson.

Updated by Staff

Chad Culvert said BP sells off about $5 billion in declining assets each year, and the potential Wyoming sale is unrelated to the company’s recent decision to sell off $10 billion in global assets as a way to offset the huge costs associated with the massive spill.

In June, the energy giant received an unsolicited bid for properties in the Overthrust area of southwest Wyoming, said Chad Culvert, the company’s director of government and public affairs in the Rocky Mountains.

While the identity of the potential buyer hasn’t been disclosed, Culvert told AP that the assets under consideration include include the Painter natural gas plant, Whitney Canyon natural gas field and Whitney Canyon Inlet gas hub, as well as the Painter natural gas plant.

“It is their stated intent to buy the operation and keep it there,” Calvert said.

Two months of studying the deal will now follow and if BP and the unnamed purchaser come to an agreement, a sale would probably take place by mid next year.

BP’s largest onshore natural gas field is its Wamsutter operations in the south-central region of the state, and that would not be part of the deal, ditto the Moxa Arch facility.

The Painter gas plant employs 52 workers, with nine employed at the Whitney Canyon facilities, plus a handful of other workers at the facilities. According to spokesperson Calvert, BP is working with potentially affected employees who may want to transfer or remain in Wyoming.