Apache sells unit in $3.7 billion deal

The Apache Corp. agreed to sell its business in the Gulf of Mexico’s shelf to a portfolio company owned by the private equity firm Riverstone Energy for about $3.75 billion.

The buyer, Riverstone’s Fieldwood Energy, is acquiring a business with 239 million barrels of oil equivalent in reserves at the end of last year, more than half of which is oil and 75 percent of which is already developed.

The deal is the biggest sale on record by Apache, which has spent $15 billion in acquisitions during the last three years, according to Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ.In a statement, the company said the deal is meant to help rebalance its portfolio, though it will also offload about $1.5 billion worth of asset retirement obligations.

Apache will retain a 50 percent stake in all exploration blocks in the assets, and it will work with the buyer, Fieldwood Energy, in developing deep-water sites in the holdings.

Business, Pages 64 on 07/21/2013

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