Fitch gives BBB+ to Marathon Oil notes

Fitch Ratings said it assigned a BBB+ rating to Marathon Oil Corp.’s issuance of $2 billion in senior unsecured notes.

Of the net proceeds, $1 billion will be used to repay the company's 2015 0.9% notes, and the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.

Fitch said the ratings reflect Marathon's high exposure to liquids (as calculated by Fitch, 69% of production and 81% of reserves); reasonably diverse upstream portfolio; good liquidity; trend of efficiency gains in its core shale plays, which provide good visibility on future reserve and production growth going forward; and track record of defending the rating.

The strong operational improvements in its shale plays were a key driver behind the upgrade to BBB+ in June 2014, the agency said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.