Gran Tierra to Sell Oil Business in $1.33 Billion Asset Deal
The divestiture would strengthen Gran Tierra’s balance sheet and fund growth across its retained assets.
Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (GTE) agreed to sell its oil business in Colombia and Ecuador in a $1.33 billion asset-purchase transaction, a portfolio overhaul that would leave the energy producer with additional funding for growth and potential shareholder returns. The company expected the deal to close on or about Dec. 31, 2026.
Gran Tierra described the agreement as the product of a continuing strategic portfolio review. The transaction would produce a step-change in its financial position and give shareholders exposure to a fully funded growth vehicle, according to the company. Gran Tierra didn’t provide a premium calculation or a cash-per-share figure because the agreement covers operating assets rather than the target’s publicly traded shares.
The sale would recast a portfolio that had long depended on South American production and reserves. At the end of 2025, Gran Tierra reported 258 million barrels of oil equivalent in proved-plus-probable reserves and said it had replaced more than 100% of South American production on both a proved-developed-producing and proved-plus-probable basis. The company also identified prospective resources in Colombia and Ecuador, underscoring the scale of the business covered by its strategic review.
The divestiture followed continued operating investment in the region. During the second quarter of 2026, Gran Tierra completed a capital-carry arrangement at Colombia’s Suroriente block, satisfied conditions tied to the Tisquirama contract and received additional field-development approvals in Ecuador. It had also agreed in March to earn a 49% working interest in the Tisquirama block alongside Ecopetrol, with plans to apply waterflooding and other operating techniques used at nearby fields.
Gran Tierra had already broadened its geographic base through its 2024 cash-and-share acquisition of i3 Energy. That transaction added Canadian assets in the Montney and Clearwater plays and increased the company’s proved-developed-producing, proved and proved-plus-probable reserves. The Colombia and Ecuador sale would mark the next major turn in that portfolio shift, directing capital toward the operations Gran Tierra retained.
Gary Guidry, Gran Tierra’s president and chief executive, said the transaction would give the company greater flexibility over capital allocation. “That balance sheet strength allows us to potentially return a meaningful amount of capital to stockholders and accelerate the development of our retained assets.”
The expected year-end closing now sets the timetable for that strategy. Gran Tierra’s next phase will depend on completing the asset transfer and deploying the proceeds between shareholder distributions and development spending, with the transaction intended to leave both priorities funded from a stronger financial position.