Businessweek

Murphy Oil Corporation operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company worldwide. The company has retail and wholesale gasoline marketing operations in the United States, and refining and marketing operations in the United Kingdom. Exploration and Production The company’s exploration and production business explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids worldwide. During 2012, the company’s principal exploration and production activities were conducted in the United States by wholly owned Murphy Exploration & Production Company – USA (Murphy Expro USA); in Malaysia, Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Suriname, Australia, Brunei, the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Cameroon, Vietnam and Equatorial Guinea by wholly owned Murphy Exploration & Production Company – International (Murphy Expro International) and its subsidiaries; in Western Canada and offshore Eastern Canada by wholly owned Murphy Oil Company Ltd. (MOCL) and its subsidiaries; and in the U.K. North Sea and the Atlantic Margin by wholly owned Murphy Petroleum Limited. Murphy’s crude oil and natural gas liquids production in 2012 was in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, the Republic of the Congo and the United Kingdom; its natural gas was produced and sold in the United States, Canada, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. MOCL owns a 5% undivided interest in Syncrude Canada Ltd. in northern Alberta. United States: In the United States, the company primarily has production of oil and/or natural gas from fields in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, in the Eagle Ford Shale area of south Texas and onshore in south Louisiana. The largest of these fields in the Gulf of Mexico in 2012 were Medusa and Front Runner. The company holds a 60% interest at Medusa in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 538/582. As of December 31, 2012, the Medusa field had total proved oil and natural gas reserves of approximately 9.2 million barrels and 9.4 billion cubic feet, respectively. The company has a 62.5% working interest in the Front Runner field in Green Canyon Blocks 338/339. Proved oil and natural gas reserves at Front Runner, as of December 31, 2012, were 11.2 million barrels and 12.2 billion cubic feet, respectively. The company also acquired additional working interests in the Thunder Hawk field in Mississippi Canyon Block 734 in 2012 and holds 62.5% of this field. The company has acquired rights to approximately 182 thousand gross acres in south Texas in the Eagle Ford Shale unconventional oil and gas play. As of December 31, 2012, the company’s proved reserves in the Eagle Ford Shale area totaled 113.6 million barrels of oil and 108.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Canada: In Canada, the company owns an interest in three significant non-operated assets – the Hibernia and Terra Nova fields offshore Newfoundland in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin and Syncrude Canada Ltd. in northern Alberta. In addition, the company owns interests in one heavy oil area, two significant natural gas areas and light oil prospective acreage in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The company has a 6.5% working interest in Hibernia, while at Terra Nova the company’s working interest is 10.475%. Total proved oil reserves, as of December 31, 2012 at Hibernia and Terra Nova were approximately 10.6 million barrels and 5.9 million barrels, respectively. The company owns a 5% undivided interest in Syncrude Canada Ltd., a joint venture located about 25 miles north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Total proved reserves for Syncrude, as of December 31, 2012, were 119.1 million barrels. Malaysia: In Malaysia, the company has majority interests in six separate production sharing contracts (PSCs). The company serves as the operator of all these areas other than the Kakap field. The production sharing contracts cover approximately 2.79 million gross acres. The company has an 85% interest in discoveries made in two shallow-water blocks, SK 309 and SK 311, offshore Sarawak. The company has a gas sales contract for the Sarawak area with PETRONAS, the Malaysian state-owned oil company, and has an ongoing multi-phase development plan for several natural gas discoveries on these