Petro Harvester To Take Denbury Mississippi, Louisiana Assets

Transaction Type
Announce Date
Post Date
Estimated Price
155MM
Description

To acquire assets primarily in central & S MS & S LA featuring 138 operated wells in 29 producing fields, gaining 1,400 BOE/d, 6.2 MMBOE proved.

Frisco, Texas-based Petro Harvester Oil and Gas LLC, an E&P formed by Fort Worth, Texas-based private-equity firm TPG Capital, plans to buy certain assets primarily in central and southern Mississippi and southern Louisiana from Denbury Resources Inc., Plano, Texas, (NYSE: DNR) for $155 million.

The acquisition includes 138 operated wells in 29 producing oil and gas fields. Production is approximately 1,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Proved reserves as of year-end 2010 were approximately 6.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (93% oil, 54% proved developed producing).

Petro Harvester president and chief operating officer Jim Sinclair says, “Petro Harvester continues its strategy of acquiring well-established, long-life, oil-weighted fields, with opportunities for operational improvements to increase production and reserves. We believe these assets will be a great addition to our portfolio.”

Denbury is continuing to market its nonoperated interest in the Greater Aneth oil field in Utah and therefore anticipates additional proceeds from asset sales in 2012.

Denbury president and chief executive Phil Rykhoek says, “With the announcement of a portion of our noncore asset sales and the earlier than expected start of oil production at our Oyster Bayou tertiary CO2 flood, 2012 is off to a solid start. The sale demonstrates execution on a portion of our 2012 plan, which we project will allow us to fund our previously announced $1.35-billion capital-investment program and stock repurchases without incurring significant incremental debt.”

The assets represent noncore properties for Denbury, which plans to use the sale proceeds to partially pay down its credit facility.

TPG Capital partner Michael MacDougall says, “In just over a year, Petro Harvester has made three significant acquisitions and continues to look for opportunities to expand its platform. The experienced management team we have backed has demonstrated that strong operational focus can bring substantial additional value to existing oil and gas assets.”

The deal is expected to close by late February.