A potential sale of some of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s U.K. North Sea upstream assets could fetch about $1 billion, according to a Sept. 21 Reuters article.

Exxon restarted the sale process for the assets in June when crude oil prices started to recover from a collapse in the spring. The U.S. oil supermajor reportedly held initial discussions this summer with private equity-backed Chrysaor Holdings Ltd. and NEO E&P Ltd.

EnQuest PLC and Tailwind Energy Ltd. have also shown interest in purchasing the assets, which produce around 35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and exclude holdings in the southern portion of the region, the article said. Bids are due Oct. 28.

Exxon holds interests in nearly 40 producing oil and gas fields in the U.K. North Sea that account for about 5% of the U.K.'s oil and natural gas production, according to Exxon's website.

Exxon spokeswoman Julie King declined to comment on the asset sale. Representatives from Chrysaor, NEO, EnQuest and Tailwind Energy did not immediately return inquiries.

Exxon is looking to unload the North Sea holdings as part of the company's wider plan to divest $15 billion in assets by 2021 and $25 billion by 2025 and exit the region altogether. In December 2019, Exxon completed the $4.5 billion sale of Norwegian oil and gas assets to Vår Energi AS.

Like many of the integrated oil and gas majors, Exxon is trying to high-grade its portfolio and shed aging assets to focus on investments in more prolific production areas around the world, including the U.S. Permian Basin and Guyana.

Scooping up what these large companies have deemed noncore assets and infrastructure between the U.K., Denmark and Norway, smaller producers have been moving in, hoping to extract the remaining reserves from the older assets.

In July, London-based major BP PLC inked a deal to sell its interests in the Andrew Area in the central U.K. North Sea and its nonoperating stake in the Shearwater field to Premier Oil PLC.