Apache Corp., Houston, is fine tuning its operations to set the stage for a large producing lease acquisition from Texaco Inc. and a merger with Dekalb Energy
The independent producer's aim is to rationalize assets and boost profits.
Apache plans to sell noncore leases in the Rocky Mountain region and close its Denver office. Rocky Mountain capital and personnel will shift to the U.S. Gulf Coast and Permian basin, as well as Alberta.
Sale of selected Rocky Mountain leases and nonstrategic assets in other regions will result in estimated proceeds of $200 million. Those funds will help reduce debt incurred to finance a $600 million purchase of interests in more than 300 oil and gas fields from Texaco.
Meantime, Apache plans to trim this year's exploration and development spending in the U.S. and Canada and hike E&D outlays elsewhere.
North American spending will slip to $170 million from $266 million spent in 1994. Elsewhere, Apache will jump E&D outlays to $45 million this year from $32 million in 1994.
U.S. operations will focus on the Gulf Coast, Permian basin, Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko basin of western Oklahoma, and Green River basin of Wyoming. The 1995 international focus will be on Egypt, Indonesia, Congo, Australia, Cote d'Ivoire, and China's Bohai Bay.
Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
