Story by Reuters

ConocoPhillips said on Friday it is looking to sell about 20 percent of its production in Western Canada, outside the oil sands, as tumbling oil prices have made operations in the country less profitable.

ConocoPhillips, which operates conventional and oil sands operations in Canada, had announced last week plans to cut about 7 percent of its workforce, or about 200 employees, in the country.

The cuts come amid continued weakening of oil prices, which have fallen more than 60 percent since June.

The properties being considered for divestiture are mainly located in Southern and Eastern Alberta, Saskatchewan and northeastern British Columbia, spokeswoman for the company Andrea Urbanek said in a statement to Reuters.

These natural gas-rich assets produced a total of about 35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the third quarter, 2014, the company said.

The company has hired a unit of Bank of Nova Scotia to advise on the process of divestiture.

Scotia Waterous Inc earlier made the announcement on the sale of the assets on its website.

Details on the assets and divestiture process are expected to be provided in the second quarter, the bank said. (http://bit.ly/19qJp0Q)

ConocoPhillips had cut its 2015 capital budget by $2 billion to $11.5 billion in January and expects to maintain spending at the level for the next two years.


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