Carlyle to sell Colombian oil firm SierraCol to Philippine's Prime Infrastructure
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Carlyle signage displays at the office in Manhattan in New York City, U.S., February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo/File Photo
LONDON, March 11 : Private equity group Carlyle has agreed to sell its Colombian oil producer SierraCol to Prime Infrastructure Capital, the infrastructure unit of Filipino businessman Enrique K. Razon Jr., for an undisclosed sum, the U.S. company said on Wednesday.
Carlyle, which set up SierraCol in 2020 after buying assets from Occidental Petroleum, had sought around $1.5 billion for the Colombian firm, sources had told Reuters in 2025.
Elsewhere in the oil and gas sector, Carlyle in January reached a non-binding, initial agreement to buy most international assets from sanctioned Russian firm Lukoil and merge its European refining vehicle Moeve with Portuguese energy firm Galp's downstream business.
"This is where our track record is strong and I expect to continue that. We have a clear playbook for executing complex carve-outs and strengthening these businesses," said co-head of Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP), Bob Maguire.
He said CIEP had no fixed views on how much investment to allocate to downstream or upstream acquisitions.
CIEP managing director Parminder Singh told Reuters that it has been tough to extract assets from the bigger players in the current market as majors are keen to boost their own oil and gas reserves while retrenching on low-carbon projects.
Carlyle said it has invested around $1 billion in SierraCol since 2020, mainly spending on the firm's existing assets to stabilise its net production at around 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and reduce operational emissions.
SierraCol's gross output of 77,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day makes up around 10 per cent of Colombia's overall production.
SierraCol had $205 million in free cashflow for the 12 months to October 2025 and net debt of $618 million, according to its website.
Prime Infrastructure runs energy, waste and water infrastructure.
