BHP to sell petroleum business to Woodside

World’s biggest miner, BHP Group said on Tuesday it will sell its petroleum assets to Woodside Petroleum after being under increasing pressure to trim its fossil fuel exposure.

According to the deal, Woodside will be owned 52 percent by existing shareholders and 48 percent by BHP shareholders.The companies said that they expect annual savings more than US $400 million a year.

“With the combination of two high quality asset portfolios, the proposed merger would create the largest energy company listed on the ASX, with a global top 10 position in the LNG industry by production,” said the companies in a statement. 

BHP also posted its annual profit which rose to US $17.01 billion from $9.06 billion last year. They said they will payLN a final dividend of  US $2 per share.