BP hires BarCap for Colombian asset sale -sources

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) is moving forward with a plan to sell its Colombian assets, valued by analysts at $1.5 to $2 billion, as part of its $30 billion sell-off programme, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Two of the people said BP had hired Barclays Capital, the investment-banking unit of Barclays Plc (BARC.L), to run the sale. UBS analysts reckon the Colombian business could fetch $2 billion, while BarCap's own analysts value it at $1.5 billion. BP declined to comment. A Barclays spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

The Cusiana and Cupiagua fields, discovered by BP in Colombia in the early 1990s, saw production peak in 1999, achieving an average rate of 434,000 barrels per day (bpd).

BP handed over the operation of the Cupiagua field at the start of July to state oil company Ecopetrol SA, while continuing to operate Cusiana. Cupiagua output was then running at 26,000 bpd.

(Reporting by Quentin Webb and Tom Bergin; Editing by Steve Slater)