As part of its strategy to create a longer-lived reserve base by divesting short-life assets, Newfield Exploration Company, a leading independent oil and gas company, embarked on a strategic exit of its fields in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and all its assets offshore in the UK. Having worked with Jefferies' Energy investment banking group in the past and given Jefferies' leadership as an advisor in energy M&A, Newfield chose the Firm to assist in the sale of its shallow-water GoM assets. Jefferies leveraged its technical knowledge of those particular hydrocarbon basins, market insights, relationships and global presence to negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement with McMoRan Oil & Gas LLC for the GoM assets. McMoRan acquired the GoM properties for $1.1 billion, gaining strong cash flow from the producing properties plus experienced people who transitioned from Newfield to McMoRan. Newfield also appointed Jefferies to sell its UK subsidiary. Jefferies managed a process aimed at demonstrating to potential purchasers the strong future market prices for uncontracted gas in the UK and the Netherlands and secured a sale to Centrica for more than $486 million. These two transactions represented important milestones in Newfield's strategy to optimize the company's portfolio within an accelerated time frame and provided the buyers with properties that were an excellent strategic fit for them.