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    Petrofac Sells Mexican Offshore Assets

Summary

Petrofac will use proceeds from the deal to settle debts, while Perenco wants to focus more on the three mature fields' development.

by: Joseph Murphy

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Natural Gas & LNG News, Americas, Premium, Corporate, Exploration & Production, News By Country, Mexico

Petrofac Sells Mexican Offshore Assets

Petrofac has agreed to sell its remaining interests in three offshore oil and gas fields in Mexico to Anglo-French Perenco, under a deal valued at $276mn.

Perenco is set to gain a 51% stake in a Dutch Petrofac subsidiary that operates the Arenque, Magallanes and Santuario deposits, Petrofac reported in a notice on September 19. The deal is slated for closure in 2020, pending regulatory approvals.

“This disposal reinforces our position as a capital-light business and represents further progress in our stated strategy to enhance returns,” Petrofac CEO Ayman Asfari commented.

Petrofac will secure an initial $37.5mn at the deal’s signing and a further $82.5mn at its completion. It will receive additional payments as and when milestones are met, such as the fields’ development and their commerciality. Proceeds will be used to settle some of the global oilfield services company’s debts.

Perenco CEO Benoit de la Fouchardiere commented that the deal would enable the company to “accelerate the deployment of our expertise in relation to the Santuario, Magallanes and Arenque assets.”

“We believe that our unique know-how will significantly enhance the production and value of these mature fields and allow us to address all the associated challenges,” he continued.

Perenco, which is active in parts of Asia, Africa, Europe and elsewhere in the Americas, acquired a 49% stake in the trio of Mexican fields from Petrofac in 2018, under similar terms. The fields flowed at a daily rate of 16,500 b/day of oil and 28mn ft3 of gas that year.