Talisman sells stake in Ocensa Colombia oil pipeline

Talisman Energy Inc. affiliates sold their roughly 12% equity interest in the 830-km Oleoducto Central SA (Ocensa) crude oil pipeline in Colombia to an investment group led by Advent International for about $595 million. The sale was part of an 18-month asset disposition effort by Talisman to place $2-3 billion in assets to reduce debt. This effort also included last month’s sale of a majority of the company’s Montney shale assets for $1.5 billion (Can.).

Other Talisman affiliates will retain crude transportation rights on Ocensa totaling about 63,000 b/d. Talisman will use these rights to transport proprietary crude, generating third-party revenue from surplus capacity.

Total Colombia Pipeline (affiliates of Total SA) and Compania Espanola de Petroleos SA (CEPSA) also sold the Advent-led investment group their roughly 5% holdings in Ocensa, leaving it with a combined 22% shareholding in the pipeline. Total sold CEPSA its 5% share last year, selling another 5% to Petrominerales at the same time before divesting its remaining balance with this transaction (OGJ Online, Feb. 8, 2012).

Ocensa starts at the Cusiana and Cupiagua fields and ends on Colombia’s Caribbean coast at the port of Covenas, carrying 560,000 b/d of Llanos-basin crude.