PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Range Resources on Wednesday said that it was moving ahead with the merger with fellow junior International Petroleum, despite the company’s announcement that it would potentially be selling off its Russian assets.

International Petroleum announced that it was in discussions with third parties concerning the potential sale of its Russian assets for between $120-million and $150-million.

The assets include a 100% equity in three licences, a 75% interest in two production licences, a further 75% interest in an exploration licence, a 50% interest in an early-stage project, and a further four production-sharing contracts.

Range said on Wednesday that it had been informed of the negotiations concerning the asset sale, and remained committed to pursue a merger transaction, pending final confirmation of the sale terms.

“The proposed asset sale will provide the merged entity with a solid financial position and balance sheet that will allow the combined group to advance and develop its production and highly prospective exploration projects, including Range’s core, large-scale production operations in Trinidad, where we have recently significantly expanded our footprint through a farm-in with Niko Resources,” said Range executive director Peter Landau.

He noted that Range remained positive about the completion of the merger and delivering the company’s aggressive production growth plans in Trinidad, as well as developing and extracting the full potential of the company’s other projects.

Under the proposed merger, Range would offer three of its own shares for every two International Petroleum shares held, valuing the takeover target at around A$105-million.

The merged entity would hold an estimated 1P, 2P and 3P reserve of 23.6-million barrels, 100-million barrels and 264-million barrels of oil respectively, and a best-estimate prospective resource of 802-million barrels of oil and 156-billion cubic feet of gas.

The combined current production from the merged entity would be around 1 000 bbl/d of oil, with a target of increasing production to 10 000 bbl/d of oil from conventional operations and an additional 3 000 bbl/d of oil from unconventional production, by the end of 2015.