Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 46 2019
P. 8
LatAmOil COLOMBIA LatAmOil
GeoPark takes control of Colombia’s Amerisur Resources
NEW York-listed GeoPark revealed last week that it had arranged to buy Amerisur Resources, a Colombia-based oil and gas operator. In a statement, it said it had agreed to pay $315mn in cash for 100% of the Colombian company.
The transaction will add Amerisur’s upstream assets to GeoPark’s portfolio. These assets include exploration and development licences for 12 blocks covering a combined area of 10,120 square km. Eleven of the blocks lie within the Putumayo Basin, and only two of them – CPO-5 and Platanillo – are currently in production.
In its statement, GeoPark said that Amer- isur’s net share of production from these two blocks had amounted to 6,865 barrels per day of light crude oil. Platanillo yielded 4,503 bpd of oil with a specific gravity of 30 degrees API. All of these barrels went to Amerisur, which owns a 100% stake in the licence area, it said.
Meanwhile, two fields at the blocks – Mari- posa and Indico – CPO-5 yielded 7,872 bpd of oil measuring 36-41 degrees API. Amerisur’s share of net production comes to only 2,362 bpd, in line with its equity stake of 30%. The remain- ing 70%, or 5,510 bpd, went to ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) of India, which serves as operator of the block.
Together, the two blocks hold nearly 22mn barrels of oil in proven and probable reserves. CPO-5 has 2P reserves of 9.5mn barrels, and Platanillo has 12.3mn barrels.
The deal also provides for GeoPark to acquire Amerisur’s 100% stake in a pipeline that is used
to export crude oil to Ecuador. The pipe, which is 17km long, is known as Oleoducto Binacional Amerisur (OBA). It originates at the Platanillo block and terminates at a junction with the Ecuadorean pipeline network that pumps oil to the port of Esmeraldas. The link can handle 50,000-70,000 bpd but is currently operating at less than 10% of capacity.
The statement described Amerisur as “a cash flow-positive, growing business with low oper- ating costs.” It indicated that GeoPark saw the deal as a means of establishing a basis for future development work in Colombia.
James Park, the company’s CEO, also voiced optimism. “Amerisur’s asset base in Putu- mayo will provide GeoPark with access to an under-explored, high-potential basin as part of our Marañon-Oriente-Putumayo strategy in the region, and with an operating export pipeline,” he said.
The deal adds 12 blocks to GeoPark’s portfolio (Photo: Amerisur Resources)
Ecopetrol, Occidental finalise Permian joint venture agreement
COLOMBIA’S Ecopetrol and US-based Occi- dental Petroleum announced on November 13 that they had completed a previously announced transaction to form a joint venture focused on the Permian Basin.
The partnership covers development of roughly 97,000 net acres (393 square km) in the Permian’s Midland sub-basin. Teaming up with Ecopetrol will allow Occidental to accelerate development in a part of the Permian where it currently has minimal activity, the US firm said in a statement.
The deal is worth $1.5bn in total, comprising
$750mn in cash and another $750mn in carried capital. Under the joint venture, Ecopetrol has acquired a 49% stake in the Rodeo Midland Basin entity, while Andarko will retain the other 51%. Ecopetrol has made an initial payment of around $876.5mn. This comprises roughly $750mn for its share of the joint venture and $126.5mn for estimated development expendi- tures during the period from the effective date of the partnership, August 1, 2019, to the end of this year.
There are currently two rigs operating in the
area the joint venture will develop.
P8
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 46 21•November•2019
