Devon CEO: Oil Majors Seen Main Bidders On Gulf Of Mexico Assets

The top executive of independent oil and gas producer Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) said Monday that the sale of stakes in some of its Gulf of Mexico assets will be complete next year and that the major oil companies are likely to be the main bidders.

The company's showroom has received a "robust" interest from international and national oil companies, Devon Chief Executive Larry Nichols said in a meeting with journalists.

The executive added that the company isn't in talks that would lead to closing deals with "anybody," including Chinese oil companies.

There have been recent reports that China's Cnooc Ltd. (CEO) was in talks with Norway's StatoilHydro ASA (STO), and that it is also looking at Devon's auction of stakes in its Lower Tertiary plays.

Devon expects to finish the selling process next year, and that the bidding process will remain open until the results of its Cascade discovery well are complete this year, Nichols said.

Cascade was the first of three discoveries to date by Devon in the Gulf of Mexico's emerging lower Tertiary trend.

Devon CEO said in a May earnings call that the company will sell stakes in its four oil discoveries in deepwater Gulf of Mexico: Kaskida, St. Malo, Jack and Cascade. They have stakes in each field, all of which are thought to be major discoveries.

-By Isabel Ordonez and Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; 713 547-9207; [e-mail]