Mar 9, 2017
Shell sells Canadian oil sands assets for $7.25bn
Royal Dutch Shell has struck agreements to sell almost all of its Canadian oil sands assets for $7.25bn, helping it to take another step towards a target to raise $30bn from disposals by the end of next year. Under the oil sands deal, Canadian Natural Resources will pay $5.4bn in cash and give Shell 98m of its shares - which currently have a value of around $3.1bn - for a cluster of assets, including the Anglo Dutch group's 60 per cent stake in the Athabasca project in Alberta. This week, it struck an agreement with Saudi Aramco to break up their US joint venture, Motiva Enterprises, which will raise $2.2bn. The group also in January reached agreement to offload a group of North Sea assets to Chrysaor, a small private equity backed company, raising up to $3.8bn. On Thursday it said it expected to receive $7.25bn from the oil sands deal, which also includes the sale to Canadian Natural of its Peace River Complex near Alberta and a number of undeveloped oil sands leases. Several oil majors have reduced their exposure to controversial Canadian oil sands assets following the collapse in crude prices in mid-June 2014, as the costs of the projects have looked increasingly uneconomic. Athabasca, which has a production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil a day, is a joint venture between Shell, Chevron and Marathon Oil's Canadian business.
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