Blackstone Energy And Sanchez Energy To Buy Anadarko's Eagle Ford Acreage

(RTTNews) - Blackstone (BX) announced that funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners L.P. have entered into a strategic 50/50 partnership with Sanchez Energy Corp. (SN) to acquire Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s (APC) working interest in approximately 318,000 gross acres in the Western Eagle Ford for approximately $2.3 billion.

The acquired assets (155,000 net acres to Sanchez Energy and Blackstone) are primarily located in Dimmit and Webb counties, contiguous to Sanchez's existing assets. Sales volumes from these properties totaled approximately 45,000 barrels of liquids per day and approximately 131 million cubic feet of natural gas per day at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016. The acreage includes approximately 130 gross drilled but uncompleted wells, which will drive initial production growth.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.