Brightoil Petroleum Buys Anadarko's Chinese Unit For $1.05 Bln

(RTTNews) - Hong Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Ltd. (BRTPF.PK) said Friday that it has completed the acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s (APC) Chinese unit for a consideration of $1.046 billion. The deal is part of the company's efforts to boost its upstream business.

In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Brightoil said it closed a stock purchase agreement with Anadarko China Holdings 2 Co. Ltd. on August 8, under which it acquired a participating stake in two oil producing blocks in Bohai Bay.

The two companies had signed the deal in February 2014. At that time, Anadarko said it entered into a stock purchase agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brightoil, whereby Anadarko would divest its Chinese subsidiary for $1.075 billion. During 2013, Anadarko's net oil sales volumes from Bohai Bay averaged around 11,000 barrels per day.

Following closing of the deal, Brightoil now holds a 40.09 percent participating stake in the 124 square-kilometer offshore block and a 29.18 percent participating stake in the 88 square-kilometer offshore block. CNOOC China Ltd. Is the operator of both blocks.

Together with its originally owned Dina1 and Tuzi natural gas fields, Brightoil expects its interest in 2P storage to reach about 86 million barrels of oil equivalent or boe. When all these three areas are in operation, Dina1 and Tuzi and Bohai will reach a daily net production of about 25,000 boe, and an annual net production of about 9 million boe.

Brightoil also currently operates four Aframax Oil Tankers and five VLCCs, and has a marine transportation capacity of more than 2 million tonnes. The company's annual trading and supplying volume is currently about 20 million tons.

Dr. Sit Kwong Lam, Chairman of Brightoil Petroleum, said, "We believe that the closing of the acquisition marks the successful transformation of the Group in its aim to become a resource-based energy enterprise. The Group will continue to strengthen its development in the upstream business, aiming to achieve sustainable growth of its reserves, production volume and revenue in the long run."

Brightoil has been trying to expand its oil and gas production to offset the negative impact of its volatile trading and shipping operations.

APC closed Friday's trading at $109.23, up $2.11 or 1.97 percent on a volume of 3.38 million shares.