ENERGY

Mobil to Sell Real Estate Holdings: The sale makes Mobil Corp. the latest major oil company to shed its real estate assets to cut costs and strengthen core businesses. Earlier this year, both Chevron Corp. and Exxon Corp. sold large chunks of their property holdings. To concentrate on its core oil and gas business, Fairfax, Va.-based Mobil agreed to sell most of its real estate holdings to an investment fund sponsored by Westbrook Partners for $324 million. The sale includes 18 planned communities in seven states. New York-based Westbrook Partners controls more than $1.6 billion in real estate assets in 24 states. Mobil first began acquiring property holdings in the 1970s as part of a diversification strategy to reduce its dependency on oil and gas.