A Closer Look at Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO)’s Angola Asset Sale

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), for instance, hopes to generate $9.6 billion from its announced asset sales this year, which will be crucial in helping the company meet its funding requirements and maintain dividend payments to shareholders. Similarly, Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) plans to raise at least $4 billion from asset sales by year’s end, which will be directed toward paying down debt and buying back shares. It appears that all three companies are trying to make the best possible use of investor capital, and that’s always a good thing.

The bottom line
After spinning off its downstream and petroleum assets into Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) in 2011, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) has optimized its asset portfolio to focus primarily on drilling in onshore U.S. shale plays, including the Eagle Ford, where it commands roughly 200,000 core net acres, the Bakken, where it has about 390,000 net acres, and resource basins in Oklahoma, where it holds approximately 220,000 net acres.

Overall, Marathon’s decision to sell its Angola stake should be a net positive for the company. Not only does it move Marathon closer to meeting the upper end of its asset sale divestiture program, the proceeds from the sale will allow the company to buy back shares and improve its balance sheet. This should allow the company to continue focusing on its highly successful Eagle Ford drilling program and bodes well for future dividend increases.

The article A Closer Look at Marathon Oil’s Angola Asset Sale originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Arjun Sreekumar.

Fool contributor Arjun Sreekumar has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Statoil (ADR) and Total SA. (ADR).

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.