Independent energy company,
Noble Energy Inc
. (
NBL
) announced the closure of its Mid-continent assets sale in the
Oklahoma and Texas region to United Petroleum Corporation, a
business wing of Tulsa-based,
Unit Corporation
(
UNT
).
The agreement to divest these oil and natural gas assets for an
amount of $617 million by Noble Energy was previously announced on
July 11, 2012. Noble Energy currently gained roughly $594 million
from this transaction after including certain adjustments,
effective April 1, 2012.
The transaction inhered the sale of 84,000 net acres of land in
the Granite Wash province of Cleveland and the Marmaton plays in
western Oklahoma as well as in the Texas Panhandle areas. The
projected net oil reserves were approximately 44 million barrels of
oil equivalent.
The string of asset sales undertaken by Noble Energy in the
first half of 2012 is part of its strategic divestiture plan to
restructure the company's operations to meet the growing demands of
a changing domestic and international oil and natural gas market.
Prior to this, the company, in early September 2012, completed the
sale of some of its oil and natural gas properties in the Permian
Basin to Houston-based oil and gas company, Sheridan Holding
Company II, LLC for $309 million.
Going forward, Noble Energy intends to utilize the proceeds from
these sales towards its core operations in the Denver/Julesburg
Basin in Colorado and Wyoming, which will fetch the company higher
returns. Noble Energy's primary operations are mainly based in the
U.S. with some of it in offshore Eastern Mediterranean and offshore
West Africa.
The company expects third quarter 2012 sales volumes to average
242-250 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d).The
company expects its sales volumes to improve due to higher
contribution from Galapagos, continuation of the drilling programs
in DJ Basin and Marcellus Shale, and increased sales in Israel.
The Zacks Consensus Estimates for the third quarter and full
year 2012 currently stand at $1.05 per share and $4.93 per share,
respectively.
Noble Energy's active peer,
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
(
APC
) is in talks to sell some or its entire stake (36.5%) in the
offshore gas fields of Mozambique to
Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
(
RDS.A
). The company on initiation of the auction process could receive
$8 billion from this sale.
Based in Houston, Texas, Noble Energy is an independent
exploration and production (E&P) company, having high-grade
hydrocarbon assets across the U.S. and several international
locations. With market capitalization of $16.79 billion, the
company has 1,876 total employees. The company presently has a
short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold rating).
ANADARKO PETROL (APC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
NOBLE ENERGY (NBL): Free Stock Analysis Report
ROYAL DTCH SH-A (RDS.A): Free Stock Analysis
Report
UNIT CORP (UNT): Free Stock Analysis Report
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