The world’s biggest mining company is moving away from oil and gas in a multi-billion dollar exit away from fossil fuels

The BHP Group will review its business in petroleum mining and consider a trade sale. Projections suggest the company will earn more than $2 billion this year. The deliberations are still at an early stage and BHP is yet to make any final decision.

An inside source told Bloomberg that the company is worth approximately $15 billion or more. The move comes as BHP follows suit of Rival Anglo American Plc, which has already exited thermal coal under investor pressure.

BHP has long said it plans to make money from oil for the next decade. However, the inside source says the company wants to avoid getting stuck with assets that are increasingly difficult to sell as the world becomes more climate-friendly.

If the price is right

Reports suggest the company plans to exit while it can still get a good price for oil. Unlike other rivals in the oil space, BHP doesn’t deend solely on the energy business for profit. The company’s iron ore and copper units dwarf its energy business.

Experts say that it’s good timing for the company to leave its dealings with oil. The economic recovery from Covid-19 has made oil producers fortunes, with Brent oil futures having rallied about 60% over the past year.

In contrast, BHP’s attemps to leave thermal coal have so far been rather disappointing. Early bids for mines in Australia came in lower than the company’s own valuations last year.

BHP positions itself as a future-forward company

A decision to move away from both thermal coal and petroleum would help BHP to position itself as a future-forward company.

Experts also expect the miner to sanction a huge potash mine in Canada next month. This could make it a key supplier of the crop nutrient when production begins.

BHP has been in oil and gas since the 1960s. It has assets both in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Australia. It produced 102.8 million barrels of oil in the last financial year.

“BHP is an outlier in the mining sector for its petroleum business,” says RBC Capital Markets analyst Tyler Broda.

He suggests that this is often cited in discussions with investors as a “point of detraction”.

“With rising ESG pressures facing the industry, but also as this business potentially enters into a re-investment phase, we can see why management might be contemplating an exit.”

Broda estimates the business is worth about $14.3 billion.