Horizon Oil Ltd., Sydney, agreed to sell its entire portfolio of assets in Papua New Guinea to joint venture partner Arran Energy Investments Pty Ltd. for $3.5 million.
Arran is a privately-owned Australian company with assets in PNG that include operatorship of development license PDL 10, which contains Stanley field, and retention license PRL 40, which holds Puk Puk and Douglas fields. It also has non-operated interests in retention license PRL 21, which contains Elevala and Ketu fields, and retention license PRL 28, which contains the Ubuntu discovery.
Subject to conditions including a waiver or expiry of pre-emptive rights periods under some JV operating agreements, Horizon expects the deal to close in this year’s fourth quarter.
As part of the transaction, Horizon will release Osaka Gas Australia Pty Ltd. and its related parties from obligations under a May 2013 asset sale agreement.
The obligations include a deferred consideration of $50 million payment on a final investment decision for an LNG project supplied by a number of PNG foreland gas-condensate fields in which Osaka Gas was entitled to take its share of LNG in kind on an equity basis along with an $80 million carry on development of the project together with potential production adjustments where threshold condensate production was exceeded.