Marathon Oil Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement with Star Energy Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), under which Star Energy Group will purchase Marathon's wholly owned subsidiary, Marathon Oil Ireland Limited for $180 million, excluding any purchase price adjustments at closing.

The companies expect to close the transaction, subject to completion of the necessary administrative processes with Irish authorities, early in the first quarter of 2009. This agreement does not include Marathon's 18.5 percent interest in the Corrib natural gas development.

"With the sale of Marathon Oil Ireland Limited, our global asset portfolio review and the resulting sale of non-core assets has generated nearly $1.2 billion in cash pretax. We anticipate that this program will generate $2 to 4 billion in cash pretax by mid-year 2009," said David E. Roberts, Jr., Marathon executive vice president, Upstream. "The objective of this global review is to ensure our assets are fully aligned with our business strategy and that we are well positioned to continue generating sustainable value growth."

Tags: Marathon Oil Corporation, Star Energy Group