Statoil Sells Marcellus Assets to EQT for $407 Million

Statoil ASA said it has agreed to sell some of its assets in the Marcellus Shale formation in West Virginia to EQT Corp. for $407 million in cash.

The Norwegian oil and gas producer said Monday the divestment includes 62,500 acres of operated properties in West Virginia with a production of about 9,300 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the first quarter.

Statoil said it would retain its operated properties in the state of Ohio and its non-operated Marcellus positions.

The company entered Marcellus and the U.S. shale industry through a 2008 joint venture with Chesapeake Energy Corp. and in 2012 became an operator in the area through the acquisition of additional acreage in a liquids-rich part of the formation.

EQT said the acquired assets, primarily located in West Virginia's Wetzel, Tyler and Harrison counties, would add a sizable amount of acreage within the company's core development area and complement its adjacent operations in Wetzel County.

The acquisition would boost EQT's core undeveloped Marcellus acreage by 29%, it said.

The current natural gas production in the acquired area was about 50 million cubic feet a day, and its resource potential was estimated at 9.2 trillion cubic feet, EQT said.

Statoil said it expected the transaction to close in July, subject to certain conditions being met. It didn't specify which conditions.

Statoil in 2014 divested parts of its non-operated assets in the southern Marcellus to Southwestern Energy for $394 million.

Write to Kjetil Malkenes Hovland at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 02, 2016 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)

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