Marathon Oil is bracing itself for bids on its North Sea fields.
More than 1,000 North Sea workers are facing an uncertain future after the firm announced plans to sell up and leave the UK late last year.
The company – which has its British headquarters in Aberdeen – revealed yesterday that it is expecting a number of bids within the next three months.
The firm has insisted that it will be business as usual until the assets are sold, but chief executive Lee Tillman hinted yesterday that a deal could come sooner rather than later.
“The marketing of our UK and Norway North Sea businesses is a continuation of our portfolio optimisation to simplify and concentrate our portfolio toward higher margin and higher growth opportunities,” he said.
“This effort is progressing on plan with the data room open and bids expected in the second quarter.”
Marathon has had a significant North Sea presence for two decades.
It operates the South, Central, North and West Brae fields, as well as holding stakes in the East Brae and Braemar fields.
It also operates the Brae-Forties pipeline, and has stakes in the Foinaven field west of Shetland and the Sage pipeline to the huge St Fergus gas terminal.
Carri Lockhart, Marathon’s regional vice-president for the UK, told the Press and Journal in December that little would change until the assets were sold.
“There will be no change to our business during this marketing process,” she said.
“We will continue with our work as a responsible operator, delivering on our planned projects, including the drilling of new wells in the South Brae Field, and remaining focused on safe and reliable operations.”
The company has 213 onshore staff at its offices at Rubislaw Hill. It has a further 172 people offshore in UK waters and more than 400 contractors. Details of the sale were in the company’s 2014 business plan.