Many oil companies have been slimming down -- mostly selling refining assets -- but BP has an extra incentive to get trim. The company has needed to raise $30 billion in cash to pay for the damages from the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion three years ago.

Overall oil and gas production is down at BP, but the mandatory sales have forced the company to focus on its most profitable assets. BP also completed its long belabored sale of Russian oil and gas company TNK-BP, which helped boost earnings and net profits for the first quarter of 2013.

As for the Deepwater spill, BP is still dealing with the repercussions. The trial to determine the company's liability ended this past April. It may be a year or more before Louisiana-based judge Judge Carl Barbier announces the final verdict, and that's only if the case isn't settled out of court.