The stock of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) closed at $76.15 gaining 0.40% ion yesterday’s trading session. The U.S. shale company, which is a unit of BHP, has been underperforming in recent years. It is for this reason that BHP has taken to calling upon four investments banks to assist it in making preparations for either a sale or a spin-off. If everything moves according to plan, it is expected that by early 2018 a solid decision will have been arrived at.

It was back in August when BHP outlined that it was targeting the sale of its unconventional onshore shale assets in the Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Permian, and Fayetteville basins.

The first ones to be hired have been Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) -Merrill Lynch and Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS).The two were entrusted with the assessment of the various options in line with the sale of assets. They were to make the consideration on whether or not they were supposed to be sold together or separately. It is expected that they might be appealing to a wide array of potential buyers.

It has also gotten in touch with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) compelling them to conduct an in-depth research into a potential spin-off of the unit into a new competitive and vibrant company.

A number of news reporters reached out to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Citi and BHP seeking to get them to comment on the matter. It was all in vain since they declined to make any comments.

BHP has in the meantime been pursuing two potential exits: a separation into a standalone company or a sale of the assets. The U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Tobago, Trinidad and Australia are the places BHP is considering in keeping its conventional assets.

An analyst familiar with the matter opined, “The Company could consider selling some or all of the shares of the newly formed company to the market via a public listing, with the proceeds of such an offering going to BHP shareholders. This would be the second demerger in three years for the company.”