Oxy to sell Colombia oil assets to Carlyle: Update

Adds Hayward appointment, Carlyle statement, asset details.

US independent Occidental Petroleum agreed to sell its Colombia onshore oil assets to the Carlyle Group for $825mn.

Carlyle will pay Occidental $700mn upfront and the balance once certain production and price targets are met.

The assets include 14 exploration and production blocks in the Llanos Norte, Middle Magdalena and Putumayo basins, with 33,000 b/d of net oil production. This includes the Caño Limón field near Colombia's volatile eastern border with Venezuela.

Upon announcing the planned acquisition, Carlyle named former BP chief executive Tony Hayward as executive chairman of its Colombia onshore business. Hayward headed up Colombia exploration for BP in the 1990s.

"Drawing on its local market knowledge and deep energy expertise, Carlyle will pursue a strategy of field life extension and operating efficiency, as well as building on Colombia Onshore's leading ESG [environmental, social and governance] initiatives. There is also the potential for the company to act as a platform for further growth in the region," Carlyle said.

Occidental will retain its exploration assets in Colombia's gas-prone offshore Caribbean frontier, which Occidental chief executive Vicki Hollub said have "enormous potential" and could determine Colombia's energy future.

Occidental has had a presence in Colombia for more than four decades, mainly in partnership with Colombian state-controlled Ecopetrol.

Occidental and Ecopetrol formed a shale joint venture last year in the Permian basin of Texas, a move seen as a path toward Colombia's development of its own unconventional resources.

By Patricia Garip