BP deal to sell Argentine oil company to cnooc

BP Plc (BP/)’s $7.1 billion deal to sell a stake in Argentine crude producer Pan American Energy LLC to China’s Cnooc Ltd. (883) collapsed, 10 days after Argentina’s leader ordered oil companies to repatriate future export revenue. Bridas Corp., a company owned by Cnooc and Argentina’s billionaire Bulgheroni family, said yesterday it canceled the deal because of legal reasons. The British company struck the agreement to sell its 60 percent stake in Pan American to Bridas a year ago as it sought to conserve capital after the oil spill at a Gulf of Mexico well left it with a bill of more than $40 billion.