S&P cuts Anadarko Petroleum

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its corporate credit rating on Anadarko Petroleum Corp. to BBB from BBB+ following completion of Anadarko's acquisitions of Western Gas Resources Inc. and Kerr-McGee Corp.

The agency said that ratings on Anadarko remain on CreditWatch with negative implications and ratings on Kerr-McGee and Western Gas Resources remain on CreditWatch with positive implications.

S&P added that the downgrade reflects Anadarko's highly leveraged financial profile following $23 billion in debt-funded acquisitions.

Although these acquisitions provide Anadarko with considerable-scale and an attractive multiyear slate of drilling prospects in its core Rocky Mountain and deepwater Gulf of Mexico operating basins, the company's likely debt measures over the next 12 months preclude maintaining the pre-acquisition ratings, the agency noted.

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