ConocoPhillips is considering the sale of properties that account for about 20 percent of its production in Western Canada outside the oil sands.
The largest US independent oil and natural gas producer is weighing whether to sell properties spread across British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan in 2015, according to a copy of a marketing document.
Production from the properties is mostly gas and amounts to the equivalent of about 31,000 barrels of oil a day after royalties.
The company hopes to select advisers for the process soon, Kristen Ashcroft, a company spokeswoman, said in a phone interview Friday.
The sale is part of the company’s regular review of its assets across the region, she said.
US producers are increasingly exiting part or all of their Canadian businesses to focus on domestic opportunities.
The potential sale by ConocoPhillips follows Canadian divestitures by EOG Resources Inc., Apache Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. in the past year and comes as energy companies seek ways to cope with crude prices hovering near a five-year low.
ConocoPhillips has operations across Western Canada and the nation’s Arctic, including about 1.1 million acres (445,154 hectares) of land in the oil sands, according to the company’s website.
ConocoPhillips operates the Surmont oil-sands project, which it owns with Total SA, and has a 50 percent stake in the Foster Creek, Christina Lake and Narrows Lake oil-sands assets operated by Cenovus Energy Inc.
Independent oil and gas producers don’t refine fuels.
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