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Exxon Prepares Sale Of UK, German Oil & Gas Assets

As part of its global program to sell assets, ExxonMobil is about to launch a process to sell its upstream oil and gas operations in the UK and Germany, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, quoting people familiar with the plans. 

The beginning of the sale process for Exxon’s UK assets is expected to be imminent, while the U.S. supermajor will start pitching its German assets to potential buyers after that, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

For months, Exxon is reported to be looking to sell its assets in the UK, which will make it the latest U.S. oil company to quit the UK North Sea.

Exxon has interests in nearly 40 producing oil and gas fields in the UK North Sea, and its investment offshore the UK is managed through a 50/50 joint operation with Shell, which is the main operator of many of the fields in the joint operation. Exxon’s output accounts for around five percent of UK oil and gas production, supplying the UK and international markets with an average of 80,000 barrels of oil and 441 million cubic feet of gas a day, the U.S. supermajor says.

Exxon’s upstream assets in Germany had total production of around 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2018, according to a review of the company cited by Bloomberg.

Two months ago, banking sources told Reuters that Exxon is considerably increasing its global asset sales program, expecting to shed oil and gas assets in Asia, Europe, and Africa worth up to US$25 billion. According to Rystad Energy’s estimates, Exxon could raise between US$1 billion and US$2 billion from its UK North Sea assets.

Exxon has an official target to sell US$15 billion worth of non-strategic assets by 2021. By the end of Q3 2019, the supermajor had reached nearly one-third of the US$15-billion asset sale target, chairman and chief executive officer Darren Woods said in the Q3 results release in November.

Exxon is selling assets it no longer considers core operations as it is now focused on the Permian and Guyana.