Progress Energy Canada Ltd., the Canadian subsidiary of Malaysia’s Petronas, has closed its previously announced agreement to acquire assets in northeast British Columbia from Talisman Energy Inc.
In a second transaction, Progress said it closed an acquisition in January in the Julienne area of B.C. for approximately $130 million, which includes four Montney wells that are awaiting completion and about 33,500 net acres of undeveloped Montneylands in the heart of the company’s North Montney Joint Venture British Columbia holdings.
While Progress didn’t announce from whom it had acquired the land, in November Enerplus Corporationsaid it had entered into an agreement to sell its Montney interests at Julienne Creek for $130 million.
“These two acquisitions continue to build upon our natural gas resource base in the North Montney. With the complementary fit we have captured operational synergies as well as additional strategic assets,” said Michael Culbert, president and chief executive of Progress.
The acquisition from Talisman includes about 127,000 net acres of Montney lands.
“We announced this transaction in November 2013, and its closure, coupled with other previously announced deals, means we have achieved over $2 billion in dispositions within 12 months,” said Hal Kvisle, president and chief executive of Talisman. “During the next 18 months, we will continue to focus our portfolio and aim to divest a further $2 billion of long dated, capital intensive assets. We will use proceeds from dispositions to maintain a strong balance sheet.”
Talisman retains its Groundbirch and Saturn assets, including approximately 48,000 net acres of prospective Montney land.
Jefferies LLC and Scotiabank acted as joint advisors to Talisman.
