Range Resources sells Texas assets for 30m dollars

Geographically diverse oil and gas smallcap Range Resources has completed the sale of its Texas assets.The Aim-listed company, which extracts its hydrocarbons from Trinidad, Georgia, Columbia and Somalia, has agreed a $30m sale.The purchaser, which had already paid a $1.0m deposit due to delays in completion, has agreed to pay $25m cash by August 30th, plus a further $5.0m royalty payments based on meeting future production targets. Executive Director Peter Landau said the sale was a "significant milestone" and would significantly strengthen Range's balance sheet and allow it to redeploy proceeds into its other, including Colombia and the recently announced farm-in with Niko Resources in Trinidad. "In addition to the proceeds from the sale," he said, "we are also in the final stages of completing the reserve based lending facility for Trinidad, which will leave the Company well positioned for significant operational growth."The company recently proposed a merger with Australian-listed International Petroleum (NSX: IOP), which itself has arranged to sell its Russian assets for cash of between $120m-£150m.Shares in Range Resources were down 0.8% to 2.6p at 15:02 on Friday. OH