Marathon’s first production from Neptune

Marathon Oil Corporation and partners have started production of oil and natural gas from the Neptune development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

BHP Billiton, the operator of the facility holds a 35 percent interest in Neptune, Marathon holds a 30 percent interest, Woodside Petroleum Limited holds a 20 percent interest, and Maxus (U.S.) Exploration Company holds a 15 percent interest in the facility.

The Neptune facility is being developed with a tension leg platform installed in Green Canyon Block 613 at a water depth of 4,250 feet. The facility’s design capacity is 50,000 barrels of oil and 50 million cubic feet of gas per day.

David E. Roberts, Jr., Marathon executive vice president of Upstream, said we are pleased to have achieved this milestone with Neptune and look forward to further field development in the near future.

Production from Neptune will be a significant contributor toward our projected total company average annual production growth of seven percent between 2007 and 2012, concluded Mr. Roberts.