Conoco dumps northern Plains acreage

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HOUSTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. supermajor ConocoPhillips said it was selling off land in Montana and North Dakota that was producing 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Conoco said it was selling its properties in Cedar Creek Anticline, located in 86,000 acres of southwestern North Dakota and eastern Montana, to Denbury Resources Inc. for about $1.05 billion.

The company said the acreage was producing about 13,000 boe per day. The sale doesn't include Conocco's acreage in the lucrative Bakken play.

"The transaction will allow us to focus our investments in North Dakota and Montana on our significant Bakken unconventional position," Don Wallette, executive vice president for corporate planning, said in a statement.

Production from the Bakken play in the northern Plains state is redefining the nation's oil sector. The boom there is such that operators are using rail for crude deliveries because of a lack of pipeline capacity.

Conoco said it owns 626,000 net acres in the Bakken formation. The transaction with Denbury is expected to close during the first quarter of this year.

Denbury, for its part, said the acquisition from Conoco adds to acreage in the Bakken play that it already acquired from Exxon Mobil in a separate transaction.