By Cynthia Koons and Wayne Ma
HONG KONG-- Noble Energy Inc. has hired merger-advisory firm
Lazard Ltd. to sell its majority stake in an oil field it owns with
Sinopec just off northeastern China, people familiar with the
matter said, the latest in a string of asset sales in the
region.
One person familiar with the matter said the U.S. oil-and-gas
producer could sell the stake for between $200 million and $300
million.
Noble Energy holds a 57% stake in the Chengdaoxi field, which
began commercial operations in 2003 and currently produces about
4,000 barrels a day of crude oil. State-controlled China Petroleum
& Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec Corp., holds the remaining
stake in the field, which is classified as an onshore project
because it is in waters less than five meters deep.
Roc Oil Co., a medium-size Australian oil-and-gas producer, is
one prospective bidder for Noble's stake, people familiar with the
matter said. Roc has experience exploring and developing oil fields
of similar size in Bohai Bay. In 2006, it bought a minority stake
in the Zhaodong block in Bohai Bay from U.S.-based Apache Corp. and
continues to explore and develop assets in the region. Roc said its
share of output from its fields in Bohai Bay was about 4,000
barrels a day in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Roc isn't the only bidder for Noble's stake, which has attracted
interest from a wide field that includes other medium-size energy
companies, people familiar with the matter said.
Noble said earlier this month in a statement that its
production-sharing contract in China would expire in 2018 and that
it was negotiating to sell its Chinese assets. Noble is focused on
horizontal-drilling operations in the U.S., as well on offshore
projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean and West
Africa.
Noble's decision to sell its Chinese assets, which have declined
in output from 6,000 barrels a day in 2003 and represented 1.5% of
total sales last year, follows a string of asset sales in the
region as global energy companies increasingly shed projects
further afield to refocus on their home markets.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp., based outside Houston, sold its
subsidiary in China for around $1.1 billion this week to Hong
Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Ltd. New York-based Hess
Corp. agreed to sell its Indonesian business for $1.3 billion to
Indonesia's PT Pertamina and Thailand's PTT Exploration &
Production Co. in December. Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co.
sold its Malaysian business to SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad for
$898 million in October.
Not all the asset sales have been smooth. Newfield originally
wanted to sell its offshore assets in China and its assets in
Malaysia as one package. However, Newfield was forced to hold on to
its Chinese assets after bidders primarily showed interest in those
in Malaysia, people familiar with the process have said.
The potential for developing North America's vast shale-gas
fields has caused globally diversified oil-and-gas companies to
rethink their overseas strategies. Huge discoveries in Louisiana,
Texas, Arkansas and Pennsylvania have made the U.S. an increasingly
attractive target for investment dollars. The Obama administration
also cleared the way for broader natural-gas exports last year when
it approved a $10 billion facility in Texas.
In 2010, U.S.-based Devon Energy Corp. sold its stake in a
Chinese offshore oil field to Cnooc Ltd., China's primary offshore
energy producer, for $370 million. That deal was part of Devon's
strategy to focus on developing assets in North America. Devon said
Wednesday that oil production grew 17% in the fourth quarter of
last year, driven by its rising output in North America.
Noble's major projects abroad are in Israel and Equatorial
Guinea. This week, the company said it reached an around $500
million deal to supply natural gas from an offshore Israel project
to customers in Jordan.
Noble's net income in 2013 shrank to $978 million from $1.03
billion in 2012. Its fourth-quarter earnings fell 47% on higher
operating expenses attributed to sharply higher exploration
costs.
Write to Cynthia Koons at cynthia.koons@wsj.com and Wayne Ma at
wayne.ma@wsj.com
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