Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has entered into a carried-interest arrangement with an undisclosed party for a stake in the prospective Heidelberg development project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Under the terms of the agreement announced on Tuesday, Anadarko would be carried for $860 million, which represents nearly all its expected capital requirements through the anticipated date of first ramp-up in mid-2016. In exchange, Anadarko would convey a 12.75% working interest to the buyer.

“The Heidelberg carried-interest agreement builds upon our track record of accelerating value, maximizing returns and enhancing the capital efficiency of our large-scale projects,” Anadarko CEO Al Walker said. “This agreement establishes a market value of approximately $3 billion for Anadarko’s interest in the Heidelberg deepwater development, which is estimated to hold up to 400 million bbl of recoverable resources.

“In addition, our ‘design one, build two’ approach with the ongoing construction of our Lucius spar is expected to result in significant cost savings, and it enables us to shorten the expected development cycle for a project of this scale by up to 18 months.”

The agreement is similar in scope to one Anadarko secured in 2012 with Japan’s Inpex Corp. for a 7.2% stake in the promising Lucius deepwater development (see Daily GPI, Aug. 15, 2012). Last month, Anadarko management said it wanted to maximize cost efficiencies at its Lucius and Heidelberg by constructing two truss spars, each with capacity of 80,000 b/d of oil (see Daily GPI, Feb. 21). Lucius is on schedule to achieve first production in 2014.

The carried-interest agreement for Heidelberg is expected to close in early April. Anadarko would continue as operator with a 31.5% stake. Apache Deepwater LLC and Eni SpA each have 12.5% interests in Heidelberg, while Statoil ASA holds 12%, and ExxonMobil Corp. and Cobalt International Energy LP each have 9.375%. Anadarko holds a 27.8% stake in Lucius and partners with Plains Exploration & Production Co. (23.3%), ExxonMobil (15%), Apache (11.7%), Petroleo Brasilerio (9.6%) and Eni SpA (5.4%).

Last year front-end engineering and design work was initiated at Heidelberg, which is in Green Canyon Block 859 (see Daily GPI, March 14, 2012). Heidelberg is in 5,300 feet of water about 140 miles offshore Louisiana. It includes Green Canyon blocks 859, 860, 903, 904 and 948. A sidetrack well, which was drilled about 1.3 miles from the discovery well in Green Canyon Block 903, appeared to confirm an extension of up to 1,500 acres (see Daily GPI, April 20, 2012). The sidetrack was drilled to a total depth of about 30,440 feet in water depths of 5,260 feet.

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