13 March 2014, News Wires – US independent Apache has closed on a deal to exit the Argentina market, selling its remaining assets in country to state oil company YPF in a $800 million cash deal.
Apache, which had been a major producer and acreage holder in the country and its emerging Vaca Muerta shale, ultimately elected to focus more on North American assets with predictable production growth and international areas yielding high cash flows, it said.
“Going forward, Apache is committed to visible and repeatable production growth, fiscal discipline with a rate of return focus, and safe, efficient operations,” chief executive Steven Farris said in a statement.
Apache will also assume $52 million in bank debt as part of the transaction.
According to Apache the company had 1.2 million net acres in the Vaca Muerta shale, with 950,000 net acres in the oil and wet gas window of the play.
The company assets spanned the provinces of Neuquen, Rio Negro, Tierra del Fuego, and Mendoza and included 33 concessions, exploration permits, and other interests totaling 3.7 million gross acres.
YPF in turn sold a stake in part of the acreage to Argentina’s Pluspetrol in a $217 million deal.
– Upstream