BP America Production Company announced that it has agreed to sell its Sunray and Hemphill gas processing plants in Texas, together with their associated gas gathering system, to Eagle Rock Energy Partners for $227.5 million in cash.

The Sunray plant, in Moore County, and the Hemphill plant, in Hemphill County, have combined processing capacity of approximately 220 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcf/d) and an associated gathering system of around 2,500 miles of pipelines.

BP believes these assets, which serve BP's natural gas production in the Texas Panhandle region, will be more strategically valuable to a company that specializes in midstream oil and gas operations. The agreement does not include BP's natural gas producing assets in the area.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.