US oil group Marathon Oil has agreed to sell a 10 percent stake in Block 32 off the Angolan coast to Angola state oil company Sonangol for US$590 million, the group said in a statement issued Tuesday in Houston.

With the sale of this stake in Angola “we have concluded our divestment process that has raised US$3.5 billion, or US$500 million more than expected,” said the group’s chief executive Lee M. Tillman.

The group also announced it was re-purchasing its own shares in the amount of US$1 billion and noted that the second phase of this programme would be finished when the sale of another 10 percent of Block 31 in Angola was concluded.

“This transaction, worth around US$1.5 billion, is due to be finished in the fourth quarter of the year,” the statement said.

According to the US press, since Marathon Oil Corp. separated all its activities downstream of oil prospecting and exploration into the Marathon Petroleum Corp. its business has focused on the United States. (macauhub)