Anadarko to Sell South Texas Assets to Sanchez Energy and Blackstone -- 2nd Update

By Maria Armental 

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has agreed to sell its South Texas oil-and-gas assets to Sanchez Energy Corp. and Blackstone Group LP for $2.3 billion.

The Wall Street Journal had reported on the deal in October, citing people familiar with the matter.

The deal, expected to close in the first quarter, includes roughly 155,000 net acres located next to Sanchez's Catarina asset, about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio, more than doubling its drilling inventory.

Anadarko has been selling assets aggressively -- going well over its sales target last year -- as it shifts its drilling focus to Texas and Colorado.

Last month, Anadarko agreed to sell off natural-gas fields in Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale and some pipelines in the area for $1.2 billion to a subsidiary of Alta Resources Development LLC, a private energy company funded by Blackstone Capital Partners..

In addition to paying down debt, Anadarko said it would invest some of the money in its assets on the DJ Basin in Colorado, the Delaware Basin in Texas and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Western Gas Partners LP, Anadarko's master limited partnership, still owns and operate midstream assets in the area and will likely do business with Sanchez and Blackstone.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal adviser and Jefferies & Co. served as the sole financial adviser to Blackstone. Intrepid Partners served as Sanchez Energy's sole financial adviser and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as its legal advisers.

Sanchez Energy's rose 1.7% to $8.85 in after-hours trading and Blackstone's 0.5% to $30.35 while Anadarko's were up 0.14% to $71.59.

Dana Mattioli, Erin Ailworth and Kevin Kingsbury contributed to this article.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2017 21:37 ET (02:37 GMT)

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