Petronas to sell off some oil and gas assets

Malaysian state energy company Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, is looking to sell some oil and gas assets owned by its Canadian unit Progress Energy, its adviser BMO Capital Markets said.

The potential sale marks a further retreat by Petronas in Canada after it scrapped plans for a US$29 billion liquefied natural gas export project in British Columbia in July.

“BMO Capital Markets has been engaged by Progress Energy to assist with the sale of its Deep Basin assets in Alberta,” the bank said.

The data room for the sale opens on Oct. 10 and bids are expected in early November, BMO said.

The asset on the block has a base production rate of about 5,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) and includes more than 400,000 gross acres in the Deep Basin with a 63 % working interest, BMO said.

The sale would also include ownership in three gas plants and an extensive pipeline network, it said.

It was not clear when BMO was hired by the Petronas unit, but a document detailing the asset was dated October 2017.

Petronas was not immediately available for comment.

After cancelling the Pacific NorthWest LNG export terminal project in British Columbia, Petronas had said it was looking at other ways to generate revenue from its North American gas assets.

BMO describes the Deep Basin as an “undercapitalised asset with significant low-risk development potential.”