Nexen puts legacy heavy oil assets on the selling block
Nexen Inc. on Monday made good on promises to sell conventional assets as it moved to unload legacy heavy oil properties in Alberta and Saskatchewan in what could be one of the bigger property deals of the year.
The properties are said to be producing about 18,000 barrels per day of heavy oil and associated natural gas from 100,000 hectares scattered across the Alberta-Saskatchewan border near Lloydminister.
Nexen spokeswoman Carla Yuill confirmed the properties are a combination of old Canadian Occidental and Wascana Energy production that dates back to the late 1980s and 1990s.
“The whole reason [for the sale] is because we want to streamline our core strategies,” she said. “We do think we can get good prices given low differentials.”
Can-Oxy took over Wascana in 1997 before it changed its name to Nexen in 2001. Wascana, previously Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Corp., or Saskoil, was formed in 1975 and was the first government controlled oil and gas company in North America.
Nexen chief executive Marvin Romanow said in December the company plans to sell $1 billion worth of assets over the next 2 years, including its conventional heavy oil properties and marketing division, to concentrate on oil sands, shale gas, and international operations in the North Sea, Nigeria and Yemen.
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