Occidental Petroleum is attempting to sell its stake in Plains All American Pipeline for $650 million.
The company announced the move after buying Anadarko Petroleum for $30 billion earlier this year. Occidental placed its share in Plains and the parent Plains GP Holdings for sale on public markets.
Occidental has owned a share of Plains for more than a decade but the purchase of Anadarko Petroleum forced the company to focus on debt reduction. Little wonder since Oxy took on nearly $40 billion in debt to finish the deal including Anadarko’s existing debt load and loans.
Reports suggest Oxy might also sell its stake in Anadarko’s pipeline spinoff company, Western Gas Partners where the value is estimated at $7 billion. There is speculation that Oxy might try to unload its assets in Colorado’s DJ Basin.
Oxy previously agreed to sell Anadarko’s Africa assets to the French energy major Total for $8.8 billion, including a massive liquefied natural gas development and export project in Mozambique.