Linklaters has taken a lead role for BP on the $650m (£412m) sale of four oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, reports the Am Law Daily.

The sale to to Japanese trading company Marubeni is BP’s latest move to sell off up to $30bn (£19bn) in assets to offset the rising costs associated with cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico after the disastrous explosion aboard its Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in April.