QEP Resources to sell non-core assets

QEP Resources will sell non-core assets in the Midcontinent Region and the Williston Basin in three separate deals worth a combined $807m.

For the first two agreements, oil and gas properties in the Cana-Woodford and Granite Wash plays in the Western Anadarko basin in Texas and Oklahoma will be sold for a combined price of approximately $772m.

The company estimates that the Midcontinent divestitures had proven reserves equivalent to around 463 billion cubic feet as of December 31, 2013. Current production is around 109 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) of which around 37% is liquids.

The third agreement covers the approximately $35m sale of a non-core position in the western Williston basin known as Fat Cat.

All the transactions are structured as a reverse like-kind exchange in which the tax basis of the divested assets will be exchanged into the company’s recently acquired Permian basin properties.

QEP Resources is also looking to sell its remaining Midcontinent assets, mainly the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) acreage and other Arkoma and Anadarko basin assets which have current aggregate net production of around 21 MMcfe/d.

BMO Capital Markets served as financial advisor in the Midcontinent divestitures while Vinson & Elkins LLP provided legal counsel. The legal counsel for the Williston Basin divestiture was provided by Holland & Hart LLP.

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Image: Location map of the Williston Basin in the US and Canada. Photo: courtesy of Janet K Pitman, Leigh C Price, and Julie A LeFever, USGS.