Murphy Oil to sell refining operations including Superior

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Murphy Oil Corp. announced today that its board of directors approved plans for exiting the company’s refining businesses, according to a news release issued by the company.

The refineries in Superior, Meraux, La., and Milford Haven, Wales, England, along with the retail system in the United Kingdom will be placed for sale. The company anticipates a transaction being completed in the first quarter of 2011.

President and Chief Executive Officer David Wood said “Murphy’s Upstream and U.S. retail businesses have demonstrated marked growth and financial performance over the last several years. By exiting the refining business, we can fully focus our attention and resources on continuing that growth, developing a premier international upstream business and a top quartile U.S. retail franchise.”

On Wednesday, company officials in Superior received tentative approval for placing about 40 acres of wetlands in permanent conservancy for an expansion of the Superior refinery that included new rail lines for the local refineries loading operations. Murphy Oil is currently going through permitting with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the conservation would offset wetland impacts of the project.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is serving as exclusive financial adviser to Murphy during this process.

The company will be hosting a conference call to discuss the planned transaction at 8 a.m. Friday. The public is invited to access the call via the Internet through the Investor Relations section of Murphy’s Web site at www.murphyoilcorp.com/ir or by telephone at (888) 634-7543. The reservation number for the call is 2002734. Replays of the call will be available through the same location on the Web site, and a recording of the call will be available through July 30 at (888) 203-1112.

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