Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, is advancing plans to sell four fields in Nigeria to meet a $15 billion asset-sales plan.
The company “has signed sales and purchase agreements for some of the oil mining leases but not all that we are seeking to divest,” Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd. said today in an e-mailed statement. “The assets under consideration are OMLs 18, 24, 25, 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, but the process has not yet concluded.”
Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden has already completed about $8 billion in asset sales this year after announcing plans to dispose of about $15 billion through 2015. The company, based in The Hague, this month agreed to sell two natural gas assets in the U.S. for $2.1 billion plus shale acreage.
The Anglo-Dutch company and partners, Eni SpA (ENI) and Total SA (FP), are close to selling the Nigerian assets for about $5.2 billion, the Financial Times reported today, citing two people familiar with the situation it didn’t identify.
“In June 2013 we announced a strategic review of our operations in the Eastern Niger Delta, which we said could result in the divestment of some of our interests there,” Shell Petroleum said. “A process of staff engagement for those potentially impacted in the event of a successful divestment has begun and will continue over the coming months.”
via@Bloomberg