Conoco offers to sell some secondary U.S. oil acreage
ConocoPhillips COP.N is offering to sell about $500 million
in conventional oil and gas properties in the top U.S. oil basin, according to
a marketing document seen by Reuters, hoping to unload less valuable acreage
after two major shale acquisitions.
On Monday, Houston-based Conoco agreed to buy Royal Dutch
Shell's RDSa.L Permian basin properties for $9.5 billion in cash. In January,
Conoco acquired another Permian producer, Concho Resources, for $13.3 billion
in stock.
The third-largest U.S. oil producer by market value has
hired investment bank RBC Capital Markets to handle the upcoming sale,
according to a marketing document dated fall 2021.
The offer covers lower-value oil and gas producing
properties in the Central Basin Platform (CBP) and Northern Shelf formations,
spread across west Texas and New Mexico.
ConocoPhillips spokesperson Dennis Nuss declined to comment.
RBC Capital Markets did not reply to requests for comment.
U.S. energy companies have stepped up divestments with oil
trading above $73 a barrel, a 51% increase this year, and U.S. natural gas
prices have almost doubled on rising demand. Chevron Corp CVX.N and Occidental
Petroleum Corp OXY.N recently offered Permian assets for sale.
ConocoPhillips has signaled its interest in accelerating
divestments after the two shale deals. It plans to divest as much as $5 billion
in assets by 2023, with a focus on less productive parts of its Permian
portfolio, it said this week. It also has said it aims to sell a stake in some
of its Alaskan assets.
Its Permian properties were valued at around $500 million,
based on proved developed producing (PDP) valuation measures, the marketing
document said.
Initial bid proposals are due on Oct. 13. The CBP assets
produced about 9,260 barrels of oil and gas per day (boepd), while the
Northwest Shelf produced about 3,840 boepd, the document added.
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