By Claire Poole

It's become the " year of capitulation" that many predicted for the oil and gas industry given continued low commodity prices, with companies laying off workers and cutting capital expenditures to stay alive. Now come the divestitures.

So, who's selling? Analysts at energy-focused investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt put out a report this week saying that many exploration and production companies are increasingly evaluating divestitures as a way to raise funds. "A sharp reduction in drilling activity is forcing introspection by E&Ps about which programs belong in the portfolio on a go-forward basis," they said.

To that end, the analysts put together a list of companies in which asset sales are "mission critical" and those in which divestitures will help but aren't "crucial."

Among the biggest on the critical list are Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK - Get Report) , which has properties in the dry gas Utica area in Ohio and the Stack region in Oklahoma that could fetch $600 million (and maybe keep it out of bankruptcy).

Must Read: Former CEO McClendon's Death Could Complicate Cheasapeake's Future

CHK Chart CHK data by YCharts

Consol Energy Inc. (CNX - Get Report) is on the list, too, including its properties in the Utica and northeast/Mid-Atlantic as well as coalbed methane assets that could generate $825 million in proceeds (just this week it sold its Buchanan coal mine to a private equity firm-backed company for $420 million).

CNX Chart CNX data by YCharts

And Devon Energy Corp. (DVN - Get Report) rounds out the top three, including its 50% stake in Canada's Access Pipeline, which carries heavy oil products across the northeastern province of Alberta, which could generate $1 billion in proceeds plus noncore oil and gas properties that could bring in another $1.8 billion.

However, Devon raised $1.47 billion in a stock offering last month -- despite CEO Dave Hager's previous insistence that it didn't need it -- so it can be more patient with respect to divestitures, Simmons & Co. analyst David Kistler wrote recently. That probably comes as little comfort to existing investors, who saw their shares diluted by more than 13%.

DVN Chart DVN data by YCharts

Other potentially big sellers on the critical list include Laredo Petroleum Inc., which could sell its 49% stake in the Medallion crude oil pipeline in West Texas' Permian Basin for as much as $325 million; Oasis Petroleum Inc., which could shed its unit that handles water used for fracking wells for up to $350 million; Stone Energy Corp., which could divest its northeast assets and non-core oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico for as much as $475 million; and Whiting Petroleum Corp., which could jettison its natural gas processing plants and other midstream assets in the Bakken area of the Rockies for $500 million.

Southwestern Energy Corp. also has some small packages of assets it could sell, including its gas storage field for $25 million and its southwest Appalachian conventional producing fields for $100 million. But the analysts think there's a low probability that the company inks a joint venture with a moneyed partner to develop its exploration assets 

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Yes just what my husbands company is doing. Already let employees go, took some off salary and put on hourly at lower pay and no overtime. Also cut my husbands salary (which he is management) 50% !! But still wants him to be on 24/7 call. Not fair but we need his job. We will hang in there for the company's sake and hope things get better.

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