Royal Dutch Shell agreed to sell its interest in the Caesar-Tonga asset in the U.S.' Gulf of Mexico for $965 million, the global energy giant said in a statement on Thursday.
The company said its subsidiary Shell Offshore Inc. signed an agreement on Wednesday to sell 22.45% of its non-operated interest in the asset to Delek CT Investment LLC, a subsidiary of Israel-based Delek Group Ltd.
'The sale will contribute to Shell’s ongoing divestment program and allow us to direct resources to the areas where we see the most value in the longer term,' Royal Dutch Shell Upstream Director Andy Brown said in a statement.
'This transaction represents our continued focus on strategically positioning our deepwater business for growth and is consistent with our upstream strategy of pursuing competitive projects that deliver value in the 2020s and beyond,' he added.
Shell said its global deepwater production is expected to exceed 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) by 2020 from already discovered and established reservoirs.
The company's deepwater portfolio currently includes reservoirs in the U.S.' Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria and Malaysia, in addition to emerging offshore basins in Mexico, Mauritania and the Western Black Sea, according to the statement.
The Caesar-Tonga field is located approximately 190 miles (300 kilometers) south-southwest from New Orleans, Louisiana in the U.S.' Gulf of Mexico. Its current total average production is over 70,000 boe/d.
Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation holds a 33.75% interest, and operates the field while California-based Chevron has a 20.25% stake; Norway's Equinor has a 23.55% share and Shell holds a 22.45% interest.
After obtaining regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2019, according to the statement.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr