Linn Energy Inc. is saying goodbye to the Golden State as the Houston-based company races toward Oklahoma shale.
Linn said June 7 it signed an agreement to sell its remaining California properties to an undisclosed buyer for $100 million. The assets comprise roughly 2,000 net acres in the Los Angeles Basin’s Brea-Olinda Field producing about 1,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) during first-quarter 2017.
The divestiture brings the total of Linn’s noncore asset sales announced year-to-date to more than $1 billion—from assets with a total proved developed PV-10 of $717 million, the company said. The sales will allow Linn to turn the corner toward a net positive cash position.
Linn has trimmed its portfolio following its exit from bankruptcy protection in February. In May alone, the company announced three agreements to sell noncore assets in California and Wyoming for $916 million.
Pro forma for the announced asset sales, Linn expects to pay off its outstanding debt. The California divestment will add cash to its balance sheet and will be used, in part, to fund the buyback of up to $75 million of the company’s class A common stock.
In addition to Oklahoma’s Scoop/Stack/Merge shale plays, the company is also shifting its focus to other emerging plays in the Midcontinent, Rockies, North Louisiana and East Texas, said Mark E. Ellis, Linn’s president and CEO.
“The company continues its transformative business plan by accelerating investment in key horizontal growth plays, focusing on operational efficiency and marketing the remaining noncore assets,” Ellis said in a statement.
Overall, Linn is also offering for sale roughly 248,000 net acres in the Williston and Permian basins and elsewhere.
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Linn’s Brea-Olinda properties are located in Orange and Los Angeles counties, Calif. The assets’ proved developed reserves are estimated to be about 17.6 million boe with a proved developed PV-10 value of about $126 million. Linn forecasts full-year field level cash flow associated with these properties of about $21 million, according to the company release.
Given the regulatory and operational complexities in California, Evan Lederman, chairman of Linn’s board of directors, said that the board determined it was in the best interests of the company to exit the state and use the capital for “more attractive and value maximizing initiatives.”
Linn budgeted $2 million of capital in the second half of 2017 for the development of these properties. The company plans to redeploy the capital for the development of growth projects or added as additional cash on the balance sheet.
Linn said it expects the transaction to close by the end of July, with an effective date of March 1. The sale is subject to satisfactory completion of title and environmental due diligence, as well as the satisfaction of closing conditions.
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. and Jefferies LLC acted as co-financial advisers to Linn and Kirkland & Ellis LLP was the company’s legal counsel during the transaction.
Emily Patsy can be reached at epatsy@hartenergy.com.
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