Marathon Oil Corporation’s (MRO) third-quarter 2009 results came in better-than-expected, helped by the contribution from increased oil and natural gas production. Earnings per share, excluding mark-to-market and divestment losses, came in at 61 cents, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 56 cents. However, as has been the case with the other oil majors that have already reported -- Exxon (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Chevron (CVX) -- earnings and revenue comparisons with the year-earlier period were quite ugly, severely hampered by lower realized commodity prices and weak refining margins. Marathon’s adjusted earnings per share plunged 77.9%, while sales declined 37.9% to $14.5 billion. Lower Prices More Than Offset Increased Upstream Volumes Income from the upstream segment totaled $491 million during the quarter, down 43.5% from the year-ago level. The company reported production (available for sale) of 393,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day (BOE/d), ...

Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO) on Friday announced the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary, Marathon Oil Gabon Ltd. (having a 56.25% interest in three offshore production fields) to London-based independent Perenco.  The oilfields are Tchatamba Marin, Tchatamba South and Tchatamba West fields, with a combined gross production of approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day.  Marathon has been strategically divesting assets during the last few months. These include the sale of a 20% participating interest in Angola Block 32, all of Marathon’s holdings in Ireland , interests in Heimdal area offshore Norway and interests in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico.  These sales are part of the company's $2 billion to $4 billion asset divestiture program announced in March 2008. Marathon’s upstream activities are located in 11 countries, including the U.S., Canada , U.K. , Norway , Equatorial Guinea , Angola , and ...