Marathon Oil Seeks North Sea Buyer, Boosts Shale Spending

Marathon Oil Corp., the U.S. energy explorer that spun off its refineries two years ago, is seeking a buyer for North Sea oilfields as it shrinks its asset base to focus on expanding onshore North American production.

The planned disposals will add to almost $3.5 billion of asset sales in the past three years, Houston-based Marathon said today in a statement. The company will divest sites off Britain and Norway that accounted for 25 percent of crude oil sales volumes in the third quarter, according to a Nov. 4 presentation that excluded Libyan output.