Woodlands-based Anadarko, the developer of the giant Mozambique LNG project , said it would sell its Eagleford Shale assets in South Texas for about $2.3 billion to a partnership formed by Sanchez Energy and Blackstone Group.
Anadarko’s CEO Al Walker said the sale would help further accelerate capital investments in the company’s higher-return oil opportunities in the Delaware Basin, the DJ Basin, and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
The divestiture includes about 155,000 net acres primarily located in Dimmit and Webb counties. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, 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.
Anadarko’s sponsored master limited partnership, Western Gas Partners, will continue to own and operate its midstream assets in South Texas and is expected to benefit from drilling commitments made by the buyers in conjunction with this transaction.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.