Marathon Oil Sells Norwegian Unit for $2.1 Billion

The exploration and production company Marathon Oil said on Monday that it would sell its North Sea oil business in Norway to a Norwegian oil producer for $2.1 billion in cash.

Marathon, based in Houston, also said it had called off the sale of its British business after failing to receive what it deemed an acceptable offer.

The Norwegian sale, to Det Norske Oljeselskap, is the latest move in an effort by Marathon to streamline its portfolio of assets.

Det Norske’s strategy has been to create a strong Norwegian exploration and production company, said Sverre Skogen, the Det Norske chairman. “With this transformational transaction we have achieved our goal well ahead of schedule.”

Production has been slowing in the North Sea, although to a greater extent in British than in Norwegian waters.

In April, for instance, Hess said it was selling its interests in two Thai fields to PTT Exploration and Production of Thailand for $1 billion. Last year, Hess sold assets in Indonesia for $1.3 billion and in Russia for about $2 billion.

Earlier this year, Apache sold its Argentine business for $800 million. Last year, it bowed to investor complaints about the riskiness of its very profitable Egyptian business and sold about a third of its operations there to Sinopec of China for about $3 billion.

With so much for sale, it may be growing difficult to find buyers.

(nytimes.com Edited by Topco)