Marathon Oil Completes Kurdistan Exit As US Shale Focus Grows

Marathon Oil Corp. continues to narrow its focus on U.S. shale with the completion of its Kurdistan divestiture on May 31.

The transaction, which represented a complete country exit for the Houston-based company, included Marathon’s 15% participating interest in the Atrush Block in Kurdistan. Production from the assets averaged 2,400 net barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), 100% oil, during the first quarter.

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Both the buyer of the assets and the terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Marathon had previously announced the sale during its second-quarter results last year. The company originally had expected to close the transaction by year-end 2018.

Marathon’s Kurdistan divestiture marks the 10th country exit for the company since 2013, including its most recent agreement with RockRose Energy Plc to sell its U.K. North Sea assets for $350 million.

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Following the closing of the U.K. North Sea sale, expected in the second half of the year, Marathon only remaining asset in its international portfolio will be in Equatorial Guinea.

For 2019, over 95% of Marathon’s development capex is allocated to operations in U.S. shale, including its positions in the Bakken, Permian Basin, Oklahoma’s Stack and Scoop and the Eagle Ford Shale.

Production from Marathon’s U.S. shale assets in first-quarter 2019 averaged 286,000 net boe/d. International production averaged 92,000 boe/d (net)  during the quarter.

Emily Patsy can be reached at epatsy@hartenergy.com.