Elf Exploration Inc., Houston, plans to withdraw from the U.S. because of lagging profits and declining exploration opportunities.
The company's entire U.S. oil and c,as exploration and production holdings are for sale.
"Other Elf companies in the U.S. are not affected by this decision," said Tex White, Elf Exploration legal counsel and vice-president of law.
Elf plans to open a data room in Houston as soon as possible and hopes to sell U.S. properties within 30-60 days. The company's U.S. assets include:
- Proved reserves totaling about 29.3 million bbl of oil equivalent.
- Interest in 430,000 net acres in the Gulf of Mexico, off California and Alaska, and onshore in the Michigan basin and along the Gulf Coast.
- Average 1991 production of 5,200 b/d of oil and condensate and 76 MMcfd of gas, 86% from wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Elf has no production off Alaska.
- Geophysical data, most of which cover acreage in the Gulf of Mexico.
Elf operates about one third of its properties in the Gulf of Mexico.
Elf Exploration is an indirect subsidiary of Elf Aquitaine Inc., the U.S. holding company of Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine, Paris.
Investment banking firm Morgan Stanley is compiling a list of companies to contact about the sale.
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