OREANDA-NEWS. April 03, 2014. Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) President and CEO Lee M. Tillman, at the 2014 Howard Weil conference in New Orleans, will outline progress the Company has achieved in executing its strategic business plans. The accompanying slide presentation will be available on the Company's website at http://www.marathonoil.com.

In his remarks Tillman will update the status of three key priorities for the Company's 2014 plans, which were announced at its December 2013 Analyst Day meeting:

Accelerated rig activity in Eagle Ford, Bakken and Oklahoma Woodford; successfully ramped up to 28-rig program in January

Opened data room for marketing of North Sea businesses with bids due in the second quarter

Completed second phase of USD1 billion share repurchase associated with close of Angola Block 31 divestment; initiating an additional USD 500 million share repurchase

"Three months ago at our Analyst Day, we detailed Marathon Oil's strategic plans to achieve profitable growth and competitive returns for shareholders. Since then we've advanced essential aspects of our 2014 agenda," Tillman said.

"We ramped up drilling and completion activity levels across all three of our North American resource plays, achieving our committed 28-rig program in January. We continue to have high confidence in our ability to deliver on our North America long-term production growth targets underpinned by strong resource growth through downspacing and well optimization. In addition, we are progressing the evaluation and appraisal of co-development opportunities with the Eagle Ford's Austin Chalk and the Bakken's deeper Three Forks benches. In the Oklahoma resource basins, we are actively developing our South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) acreage while assessing the Southern Mississippi Trend and Granite Wash horizons - all of which could further expand our current resource estimates.

"The marketing of our United Kingdom (UK) and Norway North Sea businesses is a continuation of our portfolio optimization to simplify and concentrate our portfolio toward higher margin and higher growth opportunities. This effort is progressing on plan with the data room open and bids expected in the second quarter.

"And finally, our share repurchase program underscores Marathon Oil's commitment to capital discipline and creating long-term value for our shareholders. Since September 2013, the Company has completed a two-phased repurchase of USD 1 billion of the Company's common stock representing 29 million shares. Most recently, the second phase was completed following the February closing of the Angola Block 31 transaction," Tillman said. "Now Marathon Oil is initiating an additional USD 500 million share repurchase, after which we will have USD 1.5 billion remaining on the board authorized share repurchase program."