Harvest Natural Resources discussing sale, spinoff

Harvest Natural Resources Inc., Houston, has begun exclusive negotiations for the sale of its outstanding shares to the Venezuelan subsidiary of Pluspetrol SA, Buenos Aires.

Under the proposed deal, Pluspetrol Venezuela SA would retain Harvest’s 32% interest in Petrodelta SA, and Harvest’s non-Venezuelan assets would be contributed to a new company called SpinCo, which would be spun off to Harvest’s shareholders. SpinCo would be managed by Harvest’s current management team.

Interests subject to the spinoff are in Gabon, Indonesia, Colombia, and China.

Harvest reached an agreement last year to sell its Venezuelan holdings to state-owned PT Pertamina (Persoro) of Indonesia, but the Indonesian government later rejected the $725-million deal, from which Harvest expected net proceeds of about $525 million (OGJ Online, Feb. 20, 2013).

Petrodelta holds 247,113 gross acres encompassing six fields in eastern Venezuela, from which production recently averaged 43,000 b/d of oil.