ExxonMobil To Divest Oil & Gas Resources In Norway For $4B

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has entered into an agreement to divest stakes in oil and natural gas resources in Norway, per Reuters.

This accord — which could fetch the energy giant a sum of roughly $4 billion — marks the company’s end of upstream operations in the country, according to the source. Notably, it has been operational in the country for more than a century. In Norway, ExxonMobil has minority interests in more than 20 fields that are operated by integrated energy majors like Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) plc RDS.A and Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) .

The report added that in the recent weeks, ExxonMobil was in discussion with interested and potential buyers like Aker BP (LON:BP), in which BP plc (NYSE:BP) has a 30% ownership stake, Equinor ASA and two other parties.

The divestment decision reflects ExxonMobil’s strong focus on boosting oil equivalent production volumes from onshore shale resources in the United States, mostly from the prolific Permian Basin. The company is also paying attention to develop the discovered oil plays in Guyana.

In addition to exiting from Norwegian oil and gas production businesses, ExxonMobil is also planning to divest British North Sea properties wherein the company has been operating for more than 50 years, added Reuters.

In a separate announcement, Darren Woods — the Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil — said that there are possibilities of new deals and acquisitions in the oil and gas exploration and production space, mainly in the Permian, since the complete transformation to clean energy will take a long time.

The company added that while energy transformation is taking place gradually, new consolidations are likely to support oil and natural gas demand that is expected to increase at a rate of 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively, in the long term.

Headquartered in Irving, TX, ExxonMobil currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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