Global miner BHP said it has entered into agreements to sell its underperforming onshore U.S. oil and gas assets for $10.8 billion in cash.
A unit of British oil major BP PLC will acquire BHP's unit which holds the Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Permian assets for $10.5 billion.
Meanwhile, a unit of Merit Energy Company will buy BHP Billiton Petroleum (Arkansas) Inc and the Fayetteville assets, for a total consideration of $0.3 billion.
The world's biggest miner expects to record a one-off charge of about $2.8 billion post-tax in its 2018 financial year results on account of the onshore U.S. assets.
BHP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie said that the miner expects to return the net proceeds from the transactions to shareholders.
The miner will continue to operate the assets until completion of the deals.
BHP acquired the assets at the height of the oil boom but had come under pressure from activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp to divest them.
Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; editing by James Dalgleish.