Kerr-McGee Corp., Oklahoma City, (NYSE: KMG) has completed the sale of its interests in four nonoperated fields in the U.K. sector of the North Sea and related exploratory acreage and facilities for approximately US$566 million. The majority of the assets were sold to Centrica Plc, while Talisman North Sea Ltd. and Amerada Hess have exercised pre-emptive rights to purchase Kerr-McGee's interests in the Andrew field and block 9/18w, respectively. The gas fields acquired by Centrica are in the northern and central North Sea and will add approximately 11 million barrels of oil to Centrica's portfolio. This sale is part of Kerr-McGee's disposition of North Sea assets that include proved reserves of approximately 231 million barrels of oil equivalent and had daily production of approximately 77,700 barrels of oil equivalent during the second quarter of 2005, representing approximately 21% of Kerr-McGee's total production during that period. "These transactions enhance our strategic plan to high grade our oil and gas portfolio to focus on assets that have the greatest growth opportunities," says Luke R. Corbett, Kerr-McGee chairman and chief executive. "Market valuations and the tax-efficient nature of these transactions led us to the decision to divest of all of our North Sea operations, maximizing the value of these assets to our stockholders. Divestiture of the North Sea assets will facilitate the company's plan to spend a reduced amount of capital while achieving a higher per-share production-growth rate."
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