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BP said Tuesday it is selling $7 billion worth of oil and gas assets to oil firm Apache, in the wake of the Gulf oil spill that’s draining its balance sheet.

The properties being sold are oil and gas fields and processing plants in Texas and southeast New Mexico, Western Canada, and production and exploration rights in Egypt.

“The board has considered BP’s options for generating the cash necessary to meet the obligations likely to arise from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill,” BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement.

BP (BP) has pledged up $20 billion in compensation funds to the U.S. government as a result of its role in the Gulf oil spill. The company’s stock price has been halved since the April 20 disaster, and speculation has been swirling for weeks that it could be taken over by a rival oil company.

BP has suspended its first, second and third quarter dividends, and has reportedly been in talks with sovereign wealth funds about cash infusions, as it seeks to raise money and avoid a takeover.

The asset sales to Apache were part of a previously announced plan to raise $10 billion.

Apache is a company that specializes in increasing production from older fields that the major firms no longer find attractive.

“There are opportunities to divest assets which are strategically more valuable to other parties than they are to BP,” said Svanberg.

BP is not selling any of its oil sands, Mackenzie Delta or Arctic exploration rights in Canada or any of its Alaska operations.

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European Union regulators yesterday approved Chinese carmaker Geely to buy Sweden’s iconic Volvo Cars.

The European Commission said it sees no antitrust problems with Zhejiang Geely Holding Co’s US$1.8bil acquisition of Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co because the takeover won’t give either company the power to damage rivals.

Geely sells hardly any cars in Europe and Volvo only has “very limited” operations as a car parts supplier, it said.

Geely’s acquisition of Volvo from Ford has been heralded as a breakthrough deal for China’s auto industry, giving one of its most ambitious automakers a well-known, prestigious global brand and access to top-tier technology.

The deal could give Geely a critical edge in China, which is the world’s biggest auto market and one in which foreign brands often dominate. It will also gain its first major foothold in Europe.

Geely, meaning “lucky” in Chinese is a privately-run company that has gradually built its business selling cars, motorcycles and scooters with little government support.

It teamed up with the Chinese state-owned investment firm Daqing to buy Volvo. It says it will spend an extra US$900mil to expand production and make Volvo profitable again.

The EU’s executive said its Tues approval would not affect any decision it could make on European state subsidies for Volvo.

The car maker received state guarantees from Sweden last year to help it secure euro 500mil from an EU government-backed bank. The money was earmarked to develop fuel-efficient cars.

Ford has been trying to sell Volvo since late 2008 to focus on its core Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands.

As Western automakers unload unprofitable assets, they are finding keen buyers in Asia. Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover brands to India’s Tata Motors in June 2008 for US$1.7bil, a third of what it paid for them.

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One of China’s biggest banks is on track to become the largest IPO in history.

Agricultural Bank of China, a lender which boasts more customers than the entire U.S. population, has raised $19.2 billion from investors, according to several news reports. Should the company agree to exercise its option to sell more shares, that number is expected to exceed $22 billion.

“It will, barring extenuating circumstances, be the world’s largest IPO,” said Scott Sweet, senior managing partner of the IPO research firm IPO Boutique.

Pricing for the company’s stock, which will list on exchanges in both Hong Kong and Shanghai, is not expected to be officially announced until Tuesday evening at the earliest.

But if the final figures are anywhere close to current market speculation, Agricultural Bank’s offering would barely edge out fellow lender Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which set the previous worldwide record of $21.9 billion when it went public in 2006.

Visa currently holds the U.S. record after it raised nearly $18 billion in its market debut in 2008. There is some speculation that General Motors could top that once it eventually goes public again.

Despite concerns about brewing real estate troubles in China, expectations have been for Agricultural Bank to make a splash among investors.

Although the bank will not trade on a U.S. exchange, many on Wall Street are keeping a close eye on the IPO to determine whether China’s economy and stock market are showing any signs of cooling off.

With nearly 24,000 branches and a customer base of approximately 320 million, Agricultural Bank is poised to grow as both the Chinese banking system and domestic consumers become more sophisticated.

Investors will have to wait to see how the broader market responds to the offering however as there is typically a lag between the time Chinese companies price their shares and the first day of trading.

Shares of the company are expected to begin trading July 15 in Shanghai. Hong Kong shares are set to follow a day later.

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