london (Bloomberg) — BP Plc, seeking cash to meet the costs of the worst US spill, is considering selling fields in Colombia, Venezuela and Vietnam, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

BP may also dispose of its 60 percent holding in Pan American Energy LLC, Argentina's second-largest oil producer, the person said, declining to be identified because the information is confidential.

The London-based company has a gas field and pipeline in Vietnam and holds stakes in three production ventures in Venezuela.

BP is a partner in Colombia's two biggest oil fields, where production peaked in 1999. The UK's largest oil producer pledged to raise $10 billion through assets sales in the next 12 months to pay the costs of compensating victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused by the blowout of the Macondo well in April. The company said disposals would concentrate on oil and gas fields outside regions promising production growth.

"These assets aren't ones that they've been focusing on as much as in other regions," said . in London. "Pan American stands out because they can get close to the amount they're targeting with one asset."

Cnooc Ltd., the largest offshore oil producer, may be a bidder for the Pan-American stake after it acquired a 20 percent holding when it agreed in March to pay $3.1 billion for half of BP's partner, Bridas Corp. The transaction values BP's stake at more than $9 billion.

"Pan American is the obvious place to start," said Christopher Wheaton, who manages about $400 million of securities at Allianz RCM's Energy Fund in London, including BP shares. "It's got a valuation from Cnooc in mid-March and is one of the assets you could carve out of the portfolio easily."

BP spokesman Mark Salt in London declined to comment. The company's shares have dropped 50 percent since the April 20 blowout that sank the Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 workers, wiping about $91 billion off BP's value. The stock rose 3.5 percent in London yesterday to close at 333.3 pence.

Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and chief executive officer Tony Hayward agreed to set up a $20 billion compensation fund after meeting President Barack Obama last month. To pay for it, the company suspended its $10 billion annual dividend, cut capital spending and promised asset sales.

The Macondo field, which holds an estimated 50 million barrels of crude, has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the sea, spoiling the US coastline, harming wildlife, stopping fishing and damaging the tourist industry.

BP produced 3.9 million barrels of oil and gas in the first quarter, second only to Exxon Mobil Corp. among private sector oil producers.

Pan-American, a venture created when BP bought Amoco Corp. in 1998, produces about 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day and 450 cubic metres of gas, according to the BP website.

In Colombia, BP developed the Cusiana and Cupiagua fields in the early 1990s. Connected to the Caribbean through a 500-mile pipeline. The fields now produce 177,000 a barrels a day, according to the company's website. Partners include state oil company Ecopetrol SA and a unit of Total SA.

BP is a partner with the state oil company in Venezuela's Petroperija, Boqueron and Petromonagas ventures.

BP discovered offshore four gas fields south of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam in the early 1990s.