Lindquist & Vennum client Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX, NYSE: BTE) announced on May 23 that is has completed a previously announced disposition of its non-operated interests in North Dakota to a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation (NYSE: MHR) for cash proceeds of US$312 million, net of adjustments (the "Transaction"). The proceeds from the Transaction will be redeployed into other oil and gas assets or used to reduce net debt. The U.S. Business Unit continues to be an important part of their corporate asset base. Following the Transaction, the average working interest in their remaining North Dakota lands has increased from 39% to 45%, with approximately 130 identified net drilling locations, representing thirteen years of drilling inventory at the current pace of development. Almost all of the remaining lands in the U.S. Business Unit are Baytex-operated. As the company's 2012 capital budget included minimal investment on the disposed assets, there is no change to plans to drill approximately 20 to 25 gross (approximately 10 net) wells on their Bakken/Three Forks play in North Dakota during this year.
Lindquist Partner Tom Niebrugge of the firm's Denver-based oil and gas practice assisted Baytex Energy Corp. with the transaction. Niebrugge acted as Seller’s counsel in the structuring and negotiation of the complex sales agreement involving hundreds of leases and multiple drilling wells and aided in the administration of the closing.
Baytex's full press release is attached.