11 September 2013 – Marathon Oil is exiting yet another Angolan offshore block after agreeing to sell its stake to state oil giant Sonangol.The US independent is giving up its 10% in Block 32 in a deal worth $590 million, it said on Tuesday.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter with an effective date of 1 January this year.
The deal now pushes Sonangol’s interest in the block to 50%, spread across two entities. France’s Total holds 30% and is operator while Esso holds 15% and Petrogal 5%.
The south-eastern portion of the block contains the Kaomba development which is set to be developed by a pair of floating production, storage and offloading units.
The company’s stake in Block 32 was known to be up for sale. In late June Marathon exited Block 31 off Angola, selling its 10% stake to Chinese giant Sinopec for $1.52 billion.
Also on Tuesday Marathon revealed that is is splashing out $97 million on approximatley 4800 net acres in the Eagle Ford play in south Texas.The price includes carried interest of approximately $23 million.
Marathon is also moving forward with a $1 billion stock repurchase plan which is unrelated to the sale and purchase deals also revealed.
*Eoin O’Cinneide, Upstreamonline
