Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) said Nov. 20 it plans to sell noncore southern Louisiana and certain Anadarko Basin oil and gas assets for about $1.4 billion in two separate transactions.
Proceeds from the sales will be used primarily to fund Apache’s 2014 leasehold acquisition program, according to a news release. John Christmann, Apache’s COO, described the assets as “high-decline, mature properties,” during a Nov. 20 webcast.
The buyers were not identified during the webcast.
In southern Louisiana, Apache will sell its working interest in about 90,000 net acres. The mature fields produced about 21,000 barrels of oil per day (boe/d), 62% gas and NGL, net to Apache during the third quarter of 2014. The Houston-based company will retain its 275,000 mineral acres in South Louisiana.
“It just does not fit and will not compete for capital in 2015 going forward,” Christmann said of the Louisiana assets.
The Anadarko assets include 115,000 net acres in a portion of the company’s Stiles Ranch Field in Wheeler County, Texas, and in its Mocane-Laverne and Verden fields in western Oklahoma. Net production from these properties averaged 26,000 boe/d, 83% gas and NGL, during the third quarter of 2014.
“We have drilled the devil out of these sections,” Christmann said of the Texas assets. He added that the company believed the Anadarko properties would do “better in somebody else’s hands going forward.”
Apache forecasts 2015 North American onshore liquids growth of 12% to 16% when adjusted for 2014 asset sales. On a boe basis, the company projects 2015 North American onshore production growth of 8% to 12%. This forecast assumes a preliminary North American onshore E&P capital budget of about $4 billion.
Apache has added more than 300,000 acres of leasehold in key growth plays this year, and it has increased its drilling inventory in the Eagle Ford and Canyon Lime plays of Texas to more than 3,000 and 800 locations, respectively. The company also added acreage in the Permian Basin and in Canada’s Montney Shale. It also added 121,000 acres in so-called “undercover plays.”
Just a few weeks before during its quarterly earnings call, Apache announced it was advancing its unconventional resource capabilities and “high-grading” its North American onshore portfolio. During the third quarter, the company invested $521 million in new leasehold and property acquisitions.
Both transactions have an effective date of Oct. 1, and are expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2014.
RBC Richardson Barr acted as the financial adviser on the southern Louisiana transaction and Wells Fargo Securities LLC acted as the financial adviser on the Anadarko Basin transaction.
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