Range Resources to shift focus to Marcellus shale deposits FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- An energy company in Texas announced plans to sell its stake in the region's Permian basin to help fund its shift toward Marcellus and other shale deposits. Range Resources Corp. said it asked Bank of America Merrill Lynch to market some of its holdings in the Permian basin in New Mexico and western Texas. Properties there are producing 18 million cubic feet of equivalent, with 30 percent of that existing as oil. Range said it would use the sale to help fund the $1.3 billion in capital spending for next year. About 85 percent of that will target oil and liquids-rich resources in the Marcellus shale play in the eastern United States and the Horizontal Mississippian play in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. The Marcellus shale play is one of the richest in the company and Range said those projects have the highest estimated rates of return in its portfolio. It has a combined 500,000 acres of holdings in the shale plays. Range Resources Chief Executive Officer Jeff Ventura said the company expects "to achieve double digit per share growth in production and reserves while continuing to focus on reducing expenses in our already low cost structure." The 2013 capital budget is $300 million less than what Range expected for this year.