BP Plc (BP/) started its biggest auction of North Sea fields, putting up assets valued at 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) after the U.K. offered tax breaks for the industry, the Sunday Times reported.

In a separate deal, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. may buy Ithaca Energy Inc. (IAE), the newspaper reported. Both potential deals follow the U.K.’s decision to cover as much as 75 percent of clean-up costs for old fields, it reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lars Paulsson at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net