By Simon Hall and Wayne Ma
Hong Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Ltd. has agreed to
buy Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s subsidiary in China for $1.075
billion, reflecting efforts by the Chinese company to grow its
upstream portfolio, and by the U.S. one to reorganize its foreign
holdings and concentrate on domestic oil and gas output.
The Anadarko unit owns minority stakes in two offshore oil
fields in northeastern China's Bohai Bay, from which its share of
output in 2013 averaged 11,000 barrels a day of crude oil. The
fields' operator and majority owner in China's leading offshore
producer, Cnooc Ltd.
Under the agreement, Chinese-owned Brightoil, which has oil
storage, marine bunker fuel trading and some upstream energy
operations, will acquire the entire Anadarko stake, the companies
said Tuesday. The deal is still subject to regulatory approvals and
is expected to be completed later this year, Brightoil said.
The deal comes as Anadarko continues to divest its overseas
projects. It has been raising cash to focus on extracting oil from
unconventional formations in the U.S. in states such as Colorado
and Texas, as well as the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where the company
has had a string of large oil finds. Other U.S. companies,
including Apache Corp. and Devon Energy have also been shedding
foreign assets to focus on domestic oil and gas.
Last year, Anadarko sold a stake in a natural gas field off the
coast of Mozambique to India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. for
$2.64 billion. Anadarko has also been seeking buyers for some of
its Brazil assets.
"This transaction accelerates the recognition of value from a
non-operated legacy asset and continues to demonstrate our
commitment to active portfolio management," said Anadarko Chairman
Al Walker.
As of year-end 2013, Anadarko had approximately 2.79 billion
barrels-equivalent of proven reserves, making it one of the world's
top independent exploration and production companies, the company
said. It reported a fourth quarter loss of $770 million on Feb. 3,
compared with year-earlier earnings of $203 million.
"Building on a strong foundation in oil and gas exploration and
production, the acquisition will help reinforce the group's overall
strategy and facilitate its development as an integrated oil and
gas company with sustainable revenue streams," Chairman Sit Kwong
Lam said.
Brightoil, which is based in the southern city of Shenzhen,
first entered the upstream gas business in 2009 and now has two
natural gas field projects in the Xinjiang Tarim Basin in
northwestern China. The Hong Kong-listed company has a market value
of $2.8 billion.
It made a first-half 2013 loss of $716 million Hong Kong
dollars, but said in January it would book a profit in the second
half of the year when compared with the same period in 2012--its
results are due Feb. 20.
Its share price share soared more than 22% shortly after it
restarted trading on Tuesday afternoon, before giving up some of
those gains. Trading had been suspended on Feb. 11 pending what it
said was a major acquisition.
Yvonne Lee contributed to this article.
Write to Simon Hall at simon.hall@wsj.com and Wayne Ma at
wayne.ma@wsj.com
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