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Exxon Seeks to Sell Conventional Permian Assets for $1 Billion

Oil rigs stand in the Permian Basin area of Odessa, Texas, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019. In the Permian, America's busiest oil patch, a producer needs to blast as much as 60,000 barrels of water into a well every day, along with sand and chemicals, to complete the fracking that cracks open the tight, oil-bearing rock about a mile underground. Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg (Sergio Flores/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. is looking to sell a package of conventional oil assets in the Permian Basin as the company focuses on growing shale production after buying Pioneer Natural Resources Co. earlier this year. 

The package includes older wells in the Permian’s Central Basin that produce small but stable amounts of oil, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be named because sale negotiations are private. It could fetch about $1 billion but is highly dependent on oil prices, they said. The value of deals in the oil and gas sector has doubled to $210 billion this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Exxon is “exploring market interest for select conventional assets in West Texas and South East New Mexico,” the company said in a statement responding to questions from Bloomberg News. “This decision is consistent with our strategy to continually evaluate our portfolio.” 

Operations will continue “as normal throughout the marketing process,” Exxon said. The oil giant’s global production is expected to reach 4.3 million barrels a day this year, the highest in more than a decade, after completing the $60 billion purchase of Pioneer in May.

 

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