Apache Agrees To Sell Alberta Oil And Gas Assets To Ember Resources For $214 Mln

(RTTNews) - Apache Corp. (APA) announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell oil and gas producing properties in the Nevis, North Grant Lands and South Grant Lands areas of western Alberta, Canada, to Ember Resources Inc., a private Canadian company, for US$214 million or C$220 million.

The assets comprise 621,000 gross acres and more than 2,700 wells that had average net production of 67 million cubic feet of gas and 237 barrels of liquid hydrocarbons per day from late Cretaceous sands and coal seams during the second quarter of 2013.

Apache said it will retain 100 percent working interest in horizons below the Cretaceous, such as potential Duvernay and Nisku, in Nevis and North Grant Lands.

The effective date of the transaction is April 1, 2013, and it is expected to be completed during the third quarter, subject to customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.

Previously, the company had announced plans to divest $4 billion in assets by year-end 2013. The company intends to use proceeds from the asset divestitures to reduce debt and enhance financial flexibility and to repurchase Apache common shares under a 30-million-share repurchase program authorized by the Board of Directors earlier this year.

In July, Apache announced an agreement to sell its Gulf of Mexico Shelf operations and properties to Fieldwood Energy LLC, an affiliate of Riverstone Holdings, for cash proceeds of $3.75 billion. In addition, Fieldwood will assume all asset retirement obligations for these properties, which, as of June 30, 2013, Apache estimated at a discounted value of about $1.5 billion.