Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced plans today to sell its Gulf of Mexico shelf properties through two deals valued at a total of $1.31 billion. The deals are part of Anadarko’s plan to refocus on exploration and other areas where the company believes it can achieve sustainable growth.
Houston-based Apache Corp. will acquire part of the properties for $537 million and Morgan Stanley’s Capital Group trading unit will pay Anadarko $775 million to acquire an overriding royalty interest in some of the reserves that are expected to be produced over the next four years.
As noted here earlier, Anadarko announced plans in June to sell oil and natural-gas properties valued at about $2.5 billion in connection with its plan the company more competitive by focusing on such areas as exploration and unconventional resource development and exploitation. Anadarko expects to use about $1.4 billion of proceeds from its asset sales to reduce debt and the rest to buy back stock.
By divesting of its Gulf shelf properties, Anadarko will can focus on its Gulf deepwater exploration program, which is expected to be the single-largest contributor to Anadarko’s growth target over the next five years. Anadarko’s shelf (i.e., shallow-water) properties include 78 fields and 112 platforms. When the asset sales are completed, Anadarko will operate only one offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico.