US energy company Pogo Producing Co on Friday said it had agreed to sell its Thailand oil and gas assets for $820 million in cash to Thailand's PTTEP Offshore Investment Co Ltd and Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Co Ltd. The sale, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2005, comes 10 days after the Houston-based company sold its Hungary assets for about $9 million, part of a wider strategy to focus on US production.
Pogo's Thai assets had drawn interest from nearly 20 companies. Pogo had shortlisted the bidders earlier this month, including India's ONGC and a Chinese consortium, according to a source close to the process.
"An important strategic goal of 2005, entering into an agreement to sell our Thailand assets if the right price was offered, has been achieved," said Paul Van Wagenen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pogo.
Pogo, which had $755 million of debt at end-2004 and whose overseas assets represented about 30 percent of its total production last year, faces increased finding and development costs and declining output, Standard & Poor's has said. Before the news, shares of Pogo closed up 23 cents, or 0.43 percent, at $53.60 a share on Friday. Earlier in the session it touched a fresh 52-week high of $54.27.
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