Occidental to sell some Colorado, Utah and Wyoming assets for $1.33bn

International oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) has signed a purchase and sale agreement to divest some of its assets to Orion Mine Finance for $1.33bn.

Assets under the sale are located in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

The transaction is expected to be closed in the fourth quarter of this year and will see Occidental sell 4.5 million mineral acres and one million fee surface acres.

The company will retain its core assets in the Rockies, including Colorado’s DJ Basin and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (PRB).

With this transaction, the company expects to receive $2bn or more in asset sales this year.

Orion chief investment officer Oskar Lewnowskisaid: “Acquiring high-quality producing royalties is a core component of our investment strategy and we are thrilled to be partnering with Occidental in this transaction. This transaction offers significant royalty cash flow from the trona mines and has strong potential for mineral development.

“As a firm, we recognise the importance of US mineral and energy production and are pleased to be able to offer our support to the existing world-class operators and their associated communities.”

In August 2019, Occidental Petroleum completed its previously announced acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum in a $55bn deal.

Since the purchase of its rival Anadarko Petroleum last year, Occidental has been in the process of trying to sell assets to reduce the debts it took on after the acquisition.

Last month, Oxy was reportedly holding talks to sell energy assets in Africa and the Middle East to Indonesian oil and natural gas company Pertamina.

In May, Total and Occidental Petroleum announced the end of a sale deal for Total to acquire the Algerian and Ghanaian assets of former producer Anadarko.