Shell Completes Irish Corrib Divestment

Shell said November 30 it has finally completed the sale of its Irish subsidiary's 45% interest in the Corrib gas venture for up to $1.3bn (€1.14 billion) to Nephin Energy Holdings Limited (NEHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). Completion follows receipt of all necessary partner and regulatory consents and the transaction's effective date is 1 January 2017.

It includes an initial consideration of $958mn (€840mn), interest of $54mn, and additional payments of up to $285mn between 2018-2025, subject to gas price and production. Completion of the deal represents Shell's exit from the upstream sector in Ireland. It will retain some downstream interests. Shell has signed an offtake agreement to purchase Corrib gas following completion.

The $1.3bn sale which took 16 months to complete, together with a $526mn divestment announced earlier on November 30 to Okea, will contribute to Shell's $30bn divestment target for 2016-2018.

Ireland's final regulatory approval for the Corrib divestment by Shell was granted in September 2018. Buyer CPPIB is expected by the end of the year to onsell a 1.5% stake to Canadian independent Vermilion and transfer Corrib's operatorship to it; that would leave Corrib's final interests as Vermilion with an operating 20% stake (previously 18.5%), CPPIB with 43.5% and Equinor (formerly Statoil) unchanged at 36.5%.