Linn Energy Assets Sales to Raise $2.3 bln

Linn Energy LLC said it had struck deals to sell oil and gas assets in Texas and western Oklahoma for $2.3 billion to repay debt taken to buy assets from Devon Energy Corp.

Linn bought natural gas-rich assets across the Rockies, onshore Gulf Coast and some mid-continent regions from Devon. The transaction closed in August.

Linn will sell all its Granite Wash and Cleveland properties to affiliates of investment group EnerVest Ltd for $1.95 billion, the oil and gas producer said on Friday.

The properties span 145,000 net acres and produce 195 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day. Linn is also selling related midstream facilities.

The company said it would sell about 7,200 net acres in the Wolfberry field in Texas's Permian Basin to Fleur de Lis Energy LLC for $350 million. The properties produce 4.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d).

Linn said it expected to close the transactions in the fourth quarter, after which it would be left with 6,600 net acres producing 8 mboe/d in the Midland Basin.

The company said it was seeing strong interest in these assets.

RBC Richardson Barr, Scotia Waterous and Wells Fargo (WFCNO) advised Linn in the EnerVest deal, while RBC Richardson was its adviser also for the deal with Fleur de Lis Energy.

Linn's shares closed at $29.08 on Thursday on the Nasdaq. Up to Thursday's close, the stock had risen about 12 percent this year.

Reporting by Swetha Gopinath