Anadarko Says to Sell Mozambique Gas Stake to India Corp.

Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum said it had agreed to sell a 10-percent stake in a natural gas field off the coast of Mozambique for $2.64 billion cash to an Indian corporation.

Anadarko said in a statement late Sunday that it had entered an agreement with ONGC Videsh, a subsidiary of Indian multinational Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, to sell part of its stake in Mozambique's Offshore Area 1.

Anadarko, one of the world's largest oil and gas exploration and production companies, will remain the Area 1 operator, with a working interest of 26.5 percent down from 36.5 percent.

The transaction is expected to close in late 2013, and is subject to existing preferential rights and governmental approvals.

Area 1, located in Mozambique's deepwater Rovuma Basin, off the far northern coast of the southeast African nation, "holds an estimated 35 to 65-plus trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of recoverable natural gas resources."

Anadarko's Area 1 partners include Japan's Mitsui (20 percent), India's BPRL (10 percent), Indian multinational Videocon(10 percent) and PTT Exploration & Production from Thailand (8.5 percent), and Mozambique's Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos with 15-percent interest.

Anadarko said it planned to use money from the sale to "further accelerate the short- and intermediate-term oil and liquids opportunities" in the United States and the Gulf of Mexico.

"This transaction demonstrates our continuing ability to create substantial value through exploration and to again accelerate the value of our longer-dated projects through attractive monetizations and third-party capital," said Anadarko Chairman, President and CEO Al Walker.