Shell Offloads Entire Woodside Stake

Shell said later on November 13 that it has decided to sell its entire remaining 13.28% stake in Australia's Woodside.

Earlier that day, it had said it would sell an 8.5% stake but retain 4.8% equity in the Australian independent.

Shell subsequently said that “following strong demand from institutional investors, Shell Energy Holdings Australia Limited (Sehal) has upsized its previously announced agreement to sell shares in Woodside Petroleum Limited” to the full 13.28% stake “the entirety of Sehal’s total shareholding in Woodside, for total pre-tax proceeds of $2.7bn (A$3.5bn).” That represents a total of 111.8 million shares to be sold

Completion is expected to take place on November 14, with settlement expected on November 16. Its original smaller divestment had been expected to raise pre-tax proceeds of some $1.7bn (A$2.2bn).

Shell has been a partner of Woodside since the 1960s when it joined the North West Shelf field development consortium; they remain partners in those ventures. Shell attempted to take over Woodside in the early 2000s but was thwarted on Australia national interest grounds.

Mark Smedley