Mozambique sell helps cushion Anadarko from bigger losses

Anadarko Petroleum has reported a net loss of $2.669 billion largely driven by  a contingent loss of $4 billion from the Tronox Adversary proceeding agreement.

The sale of a portion of the company’s interest in Offshore Area A block in Mozambique led to a gain of $2.64 billion cushioning the company from the Tronox Adversary.

The sale of Area 1 that was made to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)  Videsh limited left Anadarko with a working interest of 26.5 percent.

Anadarko then said that the net proceeds of the transaction would further accelerate the short- and immediate term oil and liquids opportunities in other interest areas.

“Our objective with this allocation of capital will be to further increase our cash-flow growth with attractive wellhead margins, while providing additional value to our shareholders as evidenced by our recent dividend increase and continued portfolio-management activities.” Anadarko Chairman, President and CEO Al Walker said.

And today during the first quarter announcement Anadarko Executive Vice President, Finance and CFO, Bob Gwin attributed the results largely to discretionary cash flow from Mozambique  and Pinedale/Jonah transactions.

Anadarko’s partners in Area 1 include Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area 1, Limited (20 percent), BPRL Ventures Mozambique B.V. (10 percent), Videocon Mozambique Rovuma 1 Limited (10 percent) and PTT Exploration & Production Plc (8.5 percent). Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, E.P.’s (ENH) 15-percent interest is carried through the exploration phase.

The company has also seen successful appraisal drilling activities in the Orca field increasing the total estimated recoverable resources in Anadarko’s Offshore Area 1 to a range of 50 to 70-plus trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Anadarko also continues to advance the Mozambique LNG project by adding incremental non-binding LNG off-take agreements.