Gran Tierra Sells Colombian and Ecuadorian Operations for $1.3 Billion in Sweeping Asset Divestiture

Gran Tierra Energy Inc, listed on the Toronto, London, and New York exchanges, announced in mid-2025 that it had agreed to divest its entire South American portfolio — comprising all Colombian and Ecuadorian assets — to French oil and gas producer Maurel & Prom for $1.3 billion, a transaction that sent the company’s shares leaping more than 45% to a three-year high before settling at a gain of roughly 34%.

The assets at the centre of the deal produce approximately 29,000 barrels of oil per day and hold 144 million barrels of proved and probable reserves, representing the operational core that Gran Tierra had built across South America over the preceding decade. Maurel & Prom will assume substantially all of Gran Tierra’s net liabilities as part of the arrangement.

Once adjustments, debt repayment, and transaction costs are applied, Gran Tierra expects to receive net cash proceeds of around $315 million — $250 million upon completion of the sale, with a further $65 million to follow within a year. The company stated that the transaction would leave it entirely debt-free.

What remains after the divestiture is a considerably smaller enterprise anchored in Canada and Azerbaijan. Gran Tierra estimated the continuing business carries a net asset value of $12.49 per share, a figure it described as representing an 83% premium over its 20-day volume-weighted average price. The company indicated that the proceeds could support a “meaningful” share buyback, though no binding commitment was disclosed. Completion is targeted for around the end of 2026, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

The announcement coincided with Gran Tierra’s second-quarter financial results, which showed a net income of $25 million — a reversal from the $119 million loss recorded in the prior quarter. Adjusted earnings rose to $85 million from $74 million, though production declined 9% quarter on quarter to 41,501 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a drop the company attributed partly to earlier Canadian asset sales and temporary equipment failures at two Colombian fields.

The precise terms governing environmental liabilities, labour obligations, and community commitments attached to the Colombian and Ecuadorian operations — jurisdictions where extractive industry practices have long drawn scrutiny from civil society organisations — were not detailed in the company’s public disclosures. Whether Maurel & Prom’s assumption of “substantially all net liabilities” extends to legacy environmental and social obligations in those territories remains, at this stage, unclear.