Murphy Oil Corp will spin off its sales and marketing businesses in the United States and divest those downstream operations in Britain while reviewing options for other assets, the company said on Tuesday, sending its shares up nearly 8 percent.Murphy Oil said that after the split, it would become an independent exploration and production company. Murphy Oil USA, the downstream unit, will be called Murphy USA, with more than 1,100 gasoline retail outlets, seven product distribution terminals and two ethanol production plants in North Dakota and Texas.The El Dorado, Arkansas-based company also said its board had authorized a special dividend of $2.50 per share, for a total payout of about $500 million, and a common stock buyback program of up to $1 billion.Murphy affirmed its plan to divest the British downstream operations, which include refineries, and said it was continuing to review possible options for selected assets.
Murphy Oil Corporation (Murphy) is an oil and gas exploration and production company with retail and wholesale gasoline marketing operations in the United States and refining and marketing operations in the United Kingdom. Shares of MUR traded higher by 6.39% or $3.77/share to $62.77. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $43.29 and as high as $65.60. On average, 1887000 shares of MUR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2781073.
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