Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, Aug. 7 -- Toreador Resources Corp. has sold all of its US properties for $19.1 million to RTF Realty Inc. of Dallas and plans to focus on its operations in the Black Sea off Turkey.
Toreador said it wanted to concentrate on developing Black Sea gas discoveries in the South Akcakoca subbasin's (SASB) deeper water and on exploration in the sea's Thrace basin.
The US properties, which consist primarily of nonoperated working interests in about 700 wells in five states, had proved reserves of 700,000 bbl of oil and 4.1 bcf of gas at yearend 2006, Toreador said.
The book value of the properties is about $10.3 million, Toreador said—about 4% of the aggregate book value of the company's total oil and gas properties.
The deal is expected to close by Aug. 31 and the cash sale is effective from Sept. 1. The properties have been sold on an "as is, where is" basis. Net proceeds from the sale will be added to Toreador's working capital and used for possible modest debt repayment and for other strategic initiatives.
Toreador has begun preliminary planning to bring gas discoveries in the deeper portion of the SASB into production as soon as possible. It has just spudded an exploratory well in the Thrace portion of the Black Sea with its 50:50 Turkish industrial partner Hema Endustri AS.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
