FILLFILLFILL*Korea National Oil Corp A Partner In El Paso E&P Acquisition-Sources
20 March 2012 - 7:06AM
Dow Jones News
The Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC.YY) is a part of the
group that has agreed to pay $7.15 billion for El Paso Corp.'s (EP)
exploration-and-production business, according to people familiar
with the matter.
Known as KNOC, the government-backed company's involvement in
the buyout was not disclosed when the deal was announced last month
by a group of investors led by Apollo Global Management LLC.
At the time, Riverstone Holdings LLC., an energy focused
private-equity firm, and Len Blavatnik's Access Industries were
named as partners. It is unclear what stake each partner will have
in EP Energy, as the business is now called.
A spokeswoman for Apollo declined to comment, as did a spokesman
for Riverstone. A representative for KNOC could not immediately be
reached.
KNOC's participation comes as national oil companies,
particularly those in Asia, are increasingly staking claim to North
America's oil and gas renaissance.
In November KNOC teamed up with the trading and construction
unit of Samsung Group (000830.SE) to buy Parallel Petroleum from
Apollo for $771.5 million. Parallel operates oil and gas fields in
Texas and New Mexico.
In addition to those assets, KNOC has stakes in shallow-water
fields off Louisiana and Alabama as well as a one-third interest in
a south Texas shale field operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
(APC).
EP Energy's assets are spread throughout the U.S. and include
fields in Egypt and the deep waters off Brazil.
El Paso planned last year to spin off EP Energy as a separate
public company. But in November, before it separated the unit from
its pipeline business, Houston-based El Paso agreed to be acquired
by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) for $21.1 billion.
Kinder Morgan said at the onset that it would sell the
exploration and production business, aiming to close the deal this
spring, around the time the larger merger is finalized.
-By Ryan Dezember, Dow Jones Newswires;
ryan.dezember@dowjones.com, 212-416-3057
-Min-Jeong Lee contributed to this article
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