SM Energy Sells Assets for $80 Million

July 18 (Reuters) - Oil and gas company SM Energy Co said it will exit the Marcellus shale by selling the assets there for about $80 million to a unit of Endeavour International Corp .

The acreages to be sold at McKean and Potter counties of Pennsylvania include three producing wells with average first-quarter production of 2 million cubic feet of oil equivalent per day (mmcfe/d).

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

The Marcellus shale, which stretches from West Virginia and Ohio across Pennsylvania and into New York, is one of the biggest natural gas finds in the United States in decades, but the hydraulic fracturing drilling used to tap into the vast quantities the fuel that is locked in the shale rock there has prompted environmental concerns in the region.

The company last year had said it expects to raise at least $300-$500 million over the next 12 months via joint venture agreements and sale of assets, including its Marcellus shale positions.

SM Energy shares closed at $77.77 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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