Apache completes sale of Wheatstone LNG to Woodside

HOUSTON -- Apache Corp. announced Thursday that it had completed the sale of the Wheatstone LNG project and accompanying upstream oil and gas reserves to Australia's Woodside Petroleum for total proceeds of $2.817 billion.

Proceeds include adjustments of $567 million for reimbursement of Apache's net expenditures in the Wheatstone LNG project, changes in working capital and net receipts from the Balnaves oil project between the effective date, July 1, 2014, and closing.

Under the terms of the agreement, Apache has sold equity ownership in its Australian subsidiary, Apache Julimar Pty Ltd, which owns a 13% interest in the Wheatstone LNG project and a 65% interest in the WA-49-L Block and includes the Julimar/Brunello offshore gas fields and the Balnaves oil development. 

The company anticipates the previously announced sale of Apache's 50% interest in the Kitimat LNG project and related upstream acreage in the Horn River and Liard natural gas basins in British Columbia, Canada, to Woodside will close later this month.

Final customary approvals by the project's downstream operator, Chevron Corporation, were received on March 31, 2015. Proceeds are expected to be approximately $854 million, which would include $354 million in adjustments for reimbursement of net expenditures on the project, changes in working capital and other contractual adjustments for the period between the effective date, July 1, 2014, and closing.