Occidental to Sell Anadarko's Africa Assets to Total if It Wraps Deal With Anadarko

By Bradley Olson and Cara Lombardo 

Occidental Petroleum Corp. plans to sell Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s Africa assets to Total SA if it completes a deal for the company.

The announcement by Occidental, which is in a contest with larger rival Chevron Corp. to buy Anadarko that has each company bidding in excess of $30 billion, is part of a plan by Occidental to sell assets to improve its balance sheet if it can complete the purchase of Anadarko.

The assets, which would sell for $8.8 billion, include Anadarko's multibillion-dollar Mozambique project and other developments in Algeria, Ghana and South Africa.

"The $8.8 billion value to be received for Africa represents an attractive value based on our extensive evaluation over the last 18 months," said Occidental Chief Executive Vicki Hollub.

Occidental previously had disclosed plans for roughly $10 billion to $15 billion in asset sales following a deal for Anadarko.

"These are world class assets with great upside, and we welcome the opportunity to leverage our expertise in LNG and deepwater developments as well as our long history of operating in Africa," said Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of Total.

The announcement of a potential transaction with Total is another step by Occidental to shore up its bid for Anadarko, after the company last week received $10 billion in backing for the potential deal from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Write to Bradley Olson at [e-mail] and Cara Lombardo at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 05, 2019 14:46 ET (18:46 GMT)

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