21-01-02 US energy company Kerr-McGee signed an agreement to sell its participation in a new pipeline and oil fields in Ecuador to European company Perenco, a Kerr-McGee spokeswoman said. Kerr-McGee, which has a 4.02 % stake in the $ 1.1 bn pipeline, decided to sell because Ecuador isn't part of the company's focus, and these assets were acquired in a 1999 merger with Oryx Energy, spokeswoman Debbie Schramm said.
"We're only 4.02 % interest in OCP (the heavy crude pipeline) and again, our entire Ecuador operation is part of the merger, and we decided it wasn't part of our growth strategy," she said. The transfer is pending approval from OCP Ecuador, the international consortium that is building the pipeline, and the Ecuadorian government, Schramm said.

Ecuador's new oil pipeline is considered the backbone of its economic growth, and is expected to more than double the country's crude transport capacity to 850,000 bpd once it is completed in 2003.
OCP Ecuador comprises Alberta Energy, Agip Petroleum, Kerr-McGee, Occidental Petroleum, Spain's Repsol-YPF and Argentina's Perez Companc and construction firm Techint.

Perenco is a European, privately owned, oil and gas exploration and production company, currently active in Gabon, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R. Congo), Republic of Congo, Colombia, Venezuela, Turkey and the USA. Currently, Perenco's operated production is 130,000 boepd, with 100,000 net to the Perenco Group, and an estimated 350 mm bbl of proven reserves.