OREANDA-NEWS. June 14, 2013. Sinochem Petroleum USA LLC, a U.S. subsidiary of Sinochem,  closed its previously announced transaction with Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) (“Pioneer”), to buy 40% of Pioneer’s leasehold interest in approximately 207,000 net acres (“joint interest area”) in the highly prospective horizontal Wolfcamp Shale play in Permian Basin of west Texas for a total price of USD1.7billion.

Zhang Wei, Vice President of Sinochem Group and Manager of Sinochem Petrolem Exploration and Production  Co., Ltd. who headed a Sinochem team attending the closing ceremony in Dallas, Texas met with Mr. Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer and exchanged views on current production progress and future development plan of the joint venture. Production from the joint interest area is approaching 10,000 barrels oil equivalent per day.

Pioneer Natural Resources is one of the prominent operators in Permian Basin. Through this transaction, Sinochem Group has acquired quality shale oil assets in the USA, which has optimized its global asset portfolio. Meanwhile, Sinochem Group will, by establishing a long-term cooperative relationship with Pioneer Natural Resources, gain first-hand knowledge and relevant experiences on the development of unconventional oil & gas assets.