Shell Further Reduces Stake in Australia's Woodside

Shell on Monday announced the sale of a total of approximately 156.5 million shares in Woodside Petroleum representing a total estimated value of around $5.0 billion.

The sale, which represents 19.0% of Woodside's issued share capital, will cut Shell’s stake in the Australian company to about 4.5%. Shell first sold interest in Woodside in 2010.

"Today's announcement is part of our drive to improve Shell's capital efficiency and to focus our Australia growth in directly owned assets", said Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden on Monday. "It doesn't change our view of Australia as an important player on the global energy stage, or Shell's central role in the country's energy industry."

Shell's world-wide LNG equity liquefaction capacity is 26.1 mtpa (million tonnes per annum), with interests in eleven LNG plants. The announced transaction will reduce Shell's equity liquefaction capacity to 25.5 mtpa after the sell-down and to 24.9 mtpa after completion of the share buy-back.

Shell Australia's Country Chair, Andrew Smith, added,  "Woodside is an important strategic partner for us, through our investments in established projects such as the North West Shelf and growth opportunities such as Browse. We are pleased we have been able to work with Woodside to find a solution that allows us both to meet our strategic objectives. We continue to see Australia as an important place for us to invest and grow our business."

According to the company, Australia is set to underpin Shell's next tranche of LNG growth, with the Gorgon LNG project ( approx. 15 mtpa), where Shell has a 25% interest and the Shell-operated Prelude Floating LNG project (3.6 mtpa LNG + 1.7 mtpa NGLs), in which Shell holds a 67.5% interest.