paris basin

04 October 2012 14:49 GMT

Houston’s ZaZa Energy Corporation has said it has entered exclusive negotiations with an undisclosed party on the sale of its French subsidiary.

ZaZa Energy France’s holdings comprise 24,260 wholly-owned acres of conventional producing assets in the Paris Basin.

The Texan junior said the sale talks had stemmed from an unsolicited offer of interest, and that the putative buyer was now conducting due diligence on the French assets without any guarantee of a purchase.

Chief executive Todd Brooks said the potential sale was in line with the Nasdaq-listed company’s plans to focus on prolific domestic plays.

ZaZa Energy Corporation holds 72,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford and 90,000 net acres in the Woodbine/Eaglebine play in Grimes, Madison, and Walker Counties of Texas.

It acquired the French assets in February when it merged with Toreador Resources.

In June the combined outfit dropped a joint venture with Hess Corporation involving properties in Texas and France in a deal that netted ZaZa Energy $85 million and left it with the Paris Basin conventional production assets.