SM Energy has launched the sales process for some of its natural gas-producing assets in the Eagle Ford shale basin of South Texas as it looks to trim debt following its near $13 billion merger with Civitas, three sources familiar with the matter said.
* SM Energy closed the merger last month and took on around $5 billion of Civitas net debt as part of the all-stock deal.
* The company earlier announced plans to raise at least $1 billion from divestitures within the first year of the deal completion to cut debt and shore up its balance sheet.
* SM Energy has not previously disclosed which assets it planned to part with.
* The Eagle Ford assets that SM Energy is marketing would likely fetch more than $500 million, one of the sources said.
* The company has hired investment bank RBC Capital Markets to manage the asset auction, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity so they could discuss confidential information.
* The assets produce around 250 million cubic feet equivalent of oil and gas per day, the sources added.
* SM Energy and RBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
* SM Energy has said its key assets going forward would be production in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. The company also has assets in the DJ Basin of Colorado and the Uinta Basin of Utah.
* SM Energy reports fourth-quarter earnings on February 25.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in New York; Editing by Nia Williams)