(Drops inaccurate reference to Crescent Point being an oil sands company in last paragraph)
By Shariq Khan
– Canadian oil and gas producer Crescent Point Energy Corp is looking to sell some of its assets in Alberta and Saskatchewan that could fetch around C$500 million ($394 million), according to an industry source and marketing documents seen by Reuters on Monday.
Crescent is offering the assets for sale in three separate packages, according to the marketing documents. Combined, the assets are estimated to have output around 10,554 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter, the documents showed.
The company has retained National Bank Financial Markets as its adviser on the planned sale, according to the marketing documents.
Crescent Point and National Bank did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
With U.S. oil prices over $90 a barrel, the highest in seven years, oil and gas producers have been encouraged to raise cash by selling non-core assets to clean up their balance sheets or boost shareholder returns.
Crescent has been eyeing sales of non-core assets since it took over European oil major Shell Plc’s Kaybob Duvernay assets for C$900 million in February last year.
The Canadian company, which sold some conventional oil and gas producing assets in southeast Saskatchewan for C$93 million in June, hiked its quarterly dividend by 50% and announced up to C$100 million in share repurchases in December.
($1 = 1.2690 Canadian dollars)
(This story corrects to drop inaccurate reference to Crescent Point being an oil sands company in last paragraph)
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Denny Thomas and Mark Potter)