Marathon sells Bone Bay and Kumawa interest for $36 million
Thursday, August 2 2012 - 09:35 AM WIB
US-based Marathon Oil Corporation confirmed on Thursday the sale of its stake in Bone Bay and Kumawa blocks for US$36 million.
?In May 2012, an agreement was reached to relinquish the Company's operatorship of and interests in the Bone Bay and Kumawa exploration licenses in Indonesia .
?The $36 million payment, which will be made upon government ratification of the agreement, to settle all obligations, including well commitments related to these licenses, was accrued and reported as a loss on disposal of assets in the second quarter of 2012. The net of tax loss of $23 million is treated as a special item,? the company said in a statement.
The company did not specify the buyer of the stakes, but an official of upstream authority BPMIGAS said last month that the firm?s stake in Bone Bay was bought by Canadian firm Niko Resources.
According to the BPMIGAS official Marathon gave up its operatorship of the block and would only retain non-operating interest. Prior to the acquisition, the company held 55 percent operating interest in the block with the balance held by Niko.
It remains unclear who has bought Marathon?s stake in Kumawa block offshore West Papua. A BPMIGAS official earlier said four companies, namely ConocoPhillips, Talisman, Husky, and Hess, were interested in the stake.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon