UPDATE 3-Devon to sell its Gulf of Mexico, int'l assets

* Sees sales completed by end of 2010

* Sees sales generating $4.5 bln to $7.5 bln

* Total company E&P budget seen at $5.2-$5.9 bln in 2010

* Shares climb 5 pct (Adds CEO quotes, byline; previous NEW YORK)

By Anna Driver

HOUSTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N) said on Monday it hopes to sell its Gulf of Mexico and international assets for as much as $7.5 billion and focus on its onshore oil and natural gas fields in the United States and Canada.

Devon said its deepwater projects were taking up too much of its exploration budget.

"We have a deep inventory of high-quality projects," Larry Nichols, Devon's chief executive officer, told analysts on a conference call. "Pursuing all these projects in the future would not allow us to optimize any of them."

The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma company said it expects after-tax proceeds of $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion from the sales, which are slated to start in the first quarter of 2010 and are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

"Devon's problem is they were just too successful," Mike Breard, an analyst with Hodges Capital Management, said. "They had too many wells to drill, and they would rather spend their money where they they can get a more immediate return."

Major oil companies have already shown interest in Devon's Gulf of Mexico assets, so the other international prospects will likely draw interest from the United States and abroad, Breard said.

DEBT RETIREMENT

Proceeds will be used for debt retirement and to develop the company's acreage in shale gas fields in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and British Columbia and its oilsands projects in Alberta.

Devon said it plans to end 2009 with $6.9 billion in net debt, and plans to end 2010 with $2.5 billion in net debt.

Looking to 2010, Devon said it expects its total exploration and production budget to be about $5.2 billion to $5.9 billion, with about $4.1 billion earmarked for its North American onshore business.

The fields it has up for sale represent about 7 percent of Devon's expected year-end 2009 reserves of 2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent, the company said.

Devon owns more than 9 million acres in international assets, most of which are undeveloped. Those properties are Azerbaijan, Russia, Brazil and China.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Devon holds nearly 1.5 million acres, of which about 87 percent is undeveloped. The company has 662 producing wells and owns interests in some of the region's best potential plays in the newly discovered in the deepwater "lower tertiary" trend.

Devon shares were up $3.67, or 5.4 percent on the New York Stock Exchange in midday trade. So far this year, the company's stock has risen about 3 percent, compared with a 35 percent gain in the American Stock Exchange's index of natural gas companies .XNG (Reporting by Anna Driver with additional reporting by Matt Daily in New York; editing by John Wallace, Dave Zimmerman, Leslie Gevirtz)