CALGARY - Insolvent Canadian Superior Energy Inc. of Calgary has a deal to sell its stake in a promising gas field off Trinidad and Tobago for $142.5 million US cash to Centrica PLC, the largest provider of natural gas services in the United Kingdom.

If the deal is consummated as expected in August, the Calgary company hopes to exit bankruptcy protection, it said Tuesday, with new management and no debt but without its most potentially valuable asset.

Some analysts called the deal a bargain for Centrica, which gets a 45 per cent stake in a resource some estimates peg at five trillion cubic feet of gas.

“It was widely marketed,” said Leif Snethun, chief operating officer at Canadian Superior, on Tuesday.

“Obviously to sell an asset when we were trying to do so in the global financial situation we were in, it was not an optimal time, but it was necessitated by our financial strife and (partner) BG, obviously, put a real squeeze on us down in Trinidad by putting us in receivership.

“It was absolutely necessary for corporate survival.”

The company has no chief executive or president and expects to elect new directors at its annual general meeting in September.

If the deal is completed, Centrica will be reunited with BG Group, which has a 30 per cent stake in the field. Both companies were once part of government-owned British Gas.

BG has been keeping the project going while Canadian Superior and its sidecar company, Challenger Energy Corp., deal with bankruptcy protection filings under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

Snethun explained that BG and the Trinidad government do not consider Challenger a partner in the project, but rather an investor in Canadian Superior.

“Of the $45 million US owed to BG, about two-thirds of that is owed by Challenger, yet BG doesn’t recognize Challenger,” he said.

BG North America spokesman David Keane, reached in Houston, said the company has 30 days to decide whether it will use its right to pre-empt the sale. The deal is subject to approval by the Canadian courts and the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

“We just want to stay focused on producing the block and working through the ongoing work program so that we can determine exactly what the recoverable reserves are and what their economic viability are,” said Keane.

“Yes, I do believe Centrica would be a suitable partner,” he added.

A Calgary analyst who has no shares in the companies but asked not to be identified, said he’s not surprised by the purchase price, adding that estimates of the size of the resource have differed from one source to another.

Snethun conceded that Centrica’s offer was based on its resource estimate, not Canadian Superior’s.

He said the company is looking for a new banker after Canadian Western Bank said it’s not interested in continuing to supply credit.

“We are talking to other banks, which are obviously way more interested in talking to us now that certain executives are no longer with the company,” he said.

Canadian Superior has about 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day production from Western Canada, an LNG regasification terminal proposal in New Jersey, an unexplored offshore block near Trinidad and another straddling the Libya/Tunisia border, he said.

BG has been the operator of the Trinidad and Tobago offshore exploration project since April 21, when it took over from Canadian Superior.

BG and Canadian Superior have been drilling the Victory, Bounty and Endeavour wells on the block, which is 94 kilometres off the east coast of Trinidad. The partners have invested about $290 million US in the exploration, according to Canadian Superior estimates.

Calgary oilman Greg Noval was chairman of both Canadian Superior and Challenger but is no longer an officer with either. He’s still on the Canadian Superior board.

DHEALING@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM