[StBernard] Murphy Announces Meraux Refinery Sale

[Westley Annis]

Murphy Announces Meraux Refinery Sale


EL DORADO, Ark., Sep 01, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Murphy Oil Corporation MUR
+0.55%  announced today that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement
pursuant to which its wholly-owned subsidiary, Murphy Oil USA, Inc., will
sell its refinery in Meraux, Louisiana and related assets.

The Meraux Refinery is being acquired by a subsidiary of Valero Energy
Corporation for a sales price of $325 million plus the value of hydrocarbon
inventory, and subject to certain other adjustments. The hydrocarbon
inventory will be valued based on market prices at closing (the inventory is
currently valued at approximately $300 million). The sale is subject to
customary regulatory approvals and conditions and is expected to close in
the fourth quarter of 2011.

David M. Wood, Murphy's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented,
"The announcement of the sale of Meraux is another execution step in our
repositioning strategy to exit the refining business." Wood added, "We will
now focus our attention on completing the sale of our assets in the U.K."

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is acting as legal counsel to Murphy. Goldman,
Sachs & Co. is acting as financial advisor to Murphy.

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, which
express management's current views concerning future events or results, are
subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the volatility
and level of crude oil and natural gas prices, the level and success rate of
our exploration programs, our ability to maintain production rates and
replace reserves, political and regulatory instability, and uncontrollable
natural hazards. For further discussion of risk factors, see Murphy's 2010
Annual Report on Form 10-K on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. Murphy undertakes no duty to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements.