April 2 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips ( COP ) is exploring

the sale of oil and gas assets in Oklahoma that it inherited

from its $22.5 billion takeover of Marathon Oil last year,

people familiar with the matter said.

The energy producer has hired investment bank Moelis & Co ( MC )

to run the sale process for the assets, the sources said,

adding that the talks are at an early stage and a deal is not

guaranteed.

The assets, which comprise operations in the Anadarko basin

that spans about 300,000 net acres, are expected to fetch a

price of more than $1 billion, the sources said, requesting

anonymity as the deliberations are confidential. The Anadarko

assets produce around 39,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day,

of which about half is natural gas, two of the sources said.

Potential buyers include producers who are betting on a

surge in demand for natural gas from power generation for data

centers, another of the sources added.

ConocoPhillips ( COP ) and Moelis ( MC ) declined to comment.

A deal would help ConocoPhillips ( COP ) achieve its target of

raising $2 billion by offloading non-core assets.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips ( COP ), which took on about $5.4

billion of Marathon's debt as part of the acquisition, has

already disposed of assets worth more than $1 billion since it

completed the Marathon deal in November.

The Marathon acquisition boosted ConocoPhillips' ( COP ) presence in

the Permian, Eagle Ford and Bakken basins, while also giving the

energy company operations in the Anadarko shale formation and

Equatorial Guinea.