Marathon Oil, a global exploration and production company based in Houston, has signed agreements for the sale of certain non-core assets for $950 million, including its 10 percent interest in the Shenandoah discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to the oil company, these agreements bring the total to approximately $1.3 billion in sale of assets since last year.
In November 2015, the company also sold its operated producing properties in the greater Ewing Bank area and non-operated producing interests in the Petronius and Neptune fields in the Gulf of Mexico for $205 million.
In the largest transaction, the company will divest all of its Wyoming upstream and midstream assets for $870 million, excluding closing adjustments. The upstream properties, comprised primarily of waterflood developments in the Big Horn and Wind River basins, averaged 16,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day in first quarter 2016. The assets sold also include the Red Butte pipeline, a 570-mile pipeline that is the only export line in the area. The effective date of this transaction is January 1, 2016, and closing is expected mid-year 2016.
In separate transactions, Marathon Oil has signed agreements for the sale of its 10 percent working interest in the outside-operated Shenandoah discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, operated natural gas assets in the Piceance basin in Colorado, and certain undeveloped acreage in West Texas for a combined total of approximately $80 million.
“Since August 2015, we have now announced or closed non-core asset sales of approximately $1.3 billion, surpassing our targeted range of $750 million to $1 billion,” said Marathon Oil president and CEO Lee Tillman .
“Ongoing portfolio management continues to drive the simplification and concentration of our portfolio to lower risk, higher return U.S. resource plays and support our 2016 objective of balance sheet protection.”