Anadarko Petroleum seeks buyers for offshore Brazilian assets

Anadarko Petroleum, one of the world's largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies, yesterday said that it is willing to sell its Brazilian assets if the price is right.

The Houston, Texas-based company has opened a data room for all its assets in Brazil, which has about 1 million offshore acres with interests in seven exploration blocks, all multiple deepwater prospects near existing discoveries.

Anadarko has instructed bankers including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Scotia Waterous to find buyers for the assets, which is estimated to be worth around $3 billion to $5 billion, according to industry experts based on $90/bbl and $4.5/Mcf price estimates for oil and natural gas, respectively.

Anadarko, which on Monday reported a third-quarter loss of $3.051 billion, mainly due to a $4 billion settlement agreement with BP for last year Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said that it is targeting the sale of Brazilian assets for 2012.

Anadarko is seeking more data from two offshore appraisal wells that it is currently drilling so that it can form a fair evaluation for the assets.

Anadarko's assets are all exploratory offshore blocks in Brazil, where it has made several large discoveries including the Wahoo, Itaipu, Itauna and Coalho areas.