Noncore

Denver-based SM Energy Co. has hired Petrie Partners to sell noncore assets in the Williston Basin’s Bakken Shale to focus additional capital on the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale. According to the company, about 54,500 net acres are being marketed, consisting of the Raven/Bear Den acreage and leases outside the Divide County, ND, development.

SM Energy Co. has agreed to sell two packages of noncore assets for a combined $172.5 million. They are one package of mainly waterflood assets in New Mexico and another of producing assets in North Dakota and Montana.

PDC Energy Inc. completed the sale of its noncore Colorado natural gas assets Tuesday, with the sales proceeds earmarked to accelerate development of its liquid-rich horizontal drilling programs in the state’s Wattenberg Field and Ohio’s Utica Shale.

“Headline” U.S. natural gas production continues to move higher, but signs of decline are emerging in some onshore plays, according to Barclays Capital energy analysts.

ConocoPhillips has begun initial development on the “potentially impactful” Mancos Shale in the San Juan Basin, which has the potential to be a producer “for years and years,” CEO Ryan Lance said Wednesday.

Affiliates Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas and Electric lifted Friday transmission curtailments for all interruptible and a number of firm noncore customers in southeast California’s Riverside, Imperial and San Diego counties.

Thanks to strong oil and liquids production growth and its ongoing divestiture strategy of noncore assets, Devon Energy Corp. boosted 3Q2010 net earnings to $2.1 billion, or $4.81 per common share ($4.79 per diluted common share), up from $499 million, or $1.13 per common share ($1.12 per diluted common share) during 3Q2009. Excluding adjusted items, which included the $1.5 billion gain on the sale of assets in Azerbaijan, the company earned $628 million, or $1.44 per diluted common share.

Thanks to strong oil and liquids production growth and its ongoing divestiture strategy of noncore assets, Devon Energy Corp. boosted 3Q2010 net earnings to $2.1 billion, or $4.81 per common share ($4.79 per diluted common share), up from $499 million, or $1.13 per common share ($1.12 per diluted common share) during 3Q2009. Excluding adjusted items, which included the $1.5 billion gain on the sale of assets in Azerbaijan, the company earned $628 million, or $1.44 per diluted common share.

Shale plays figured prominently in the third quarter performance of Denver-based QEP Resources as the company grew production by about 20% from the year-ago period.