Ottawa: Royal Dutch Shell Plc has signed two agreements to sell all of its in-situ and undeveloped oil sands interests in Canada and reduce its share in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP) from 60 percent to 10 percent. Shell will remain as operator of AOSP’s Scotford upgrader and Quest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
Under the first agreement, Shell will sell to a subsidiary of Canadian Natural Resources Limited its entire 60 percent interest in AOSP, 100 percent interest in the Peace River Complex in-situ assets, including Carmon Creek, and a number of undeveloped oil sands leases in Alberta, Canada. The consideration to Shell from Canadian Natural is approximately $8.5 billion, comprised of $ 5.4 billion in cash plus around 98 million Canadian Natural shares currently valued at $ 3.1 billion. Canadian Natural is one of Canada’s largest energy companies and a leader in the oil sands, with a market capitalisation of approximately $ 35 billion. Separately and under the second agreement, Shell and Canadian Natural will jointly acquire and own equally Marathon Oil Canada Corporation (MOCC), which holds a 20 percent interest in AOSP, from an affiliate of Marathon Oil Corporation for $ 1.25 billion each, to be settled in cash.
