BP PLC is selling 114 gas stations and convenience-store properties in 22 states, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Most of the locations are being marketed as redevelopment sites, while some are being offered as part of potential franchise deals, according to the Web site of BP’s broker, Jones Lang LaSalle.
BP had decided to sell the properties long before the oil spill fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico, Guy Ponticiello, a Jones Lang LaSalle managing director told the Wall Street Journal, adding the company announced its planned to exit direct service-station ownership a few years ago.
Eric Anton, an executive managing director at Eastern Consolidated told the paper that the negative publicity now plaguing the oil company in the aftermath of the oil spill “may create more buzz” for the properties partly because buyers may assume they may have an advantage on pricing terms.
“From a buyer’s point of view, psychologically, they know BP has to raise cash,” Anton said. “So, [they] want to get in there while the getting is good.”