Shell announces sale of NZ interests to OMV for USD 578m

Shell announces sale of New Zealand interests to OMV for USD 578 million

Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell), reached an agreement today to sell its shares in Shell entities in New Zealand, to OMV for USD 578 million.

This follows a two-year strategic review of Shell’s interests in New Zealand and the sale of Shell’s interest in Kapuni in 2017. It is consistent with the Shell Group strategy of divesting USD 30bn of assets by end 2018, and is in line with Shell’s drive to simplify the upstream portfolio and re-shape the company into a world class investment.

The agreement includes Māui, Pohokura and the Tank Farms. Shell has also entered into an agreement with OMV to sell its interest in (and operatorship of) the Great South Basin venture, which includes a drilling commitment currently estimated to be USD 50 million.

The Sales and Purchase Agreement is subject to certain conditions which include normal regulatory approvals and is likely to be complete by Q4 this year.

As part of the deal, the employees of Shell Taranaki Limited and Shell New Zealand will become part of OMV New Zealand, upon completion of the deal.

“Today’s announcement is another step towards reshaping and simplifying our company, deepening Shell’s financial resilience and competitiveness, in order to become a world-class investment,” said Maarten Wetselaar, Integrated Gas & New Energies Director. “We are proud of having worked in New Zealand for more than 100 years. Our customers, our neighbours, the regulator and partners have been a critical part of this journey and integral to our successes. I wish them all well.”

“I want to emphasise that the business will continue to be run as it is now, until the deal is complete” says Rob Jager, Country Chair of Shell Companies in New Zealand. “We have two high priorities over this transition period: to continue to run our assets in a safe and reliable manner and care for our people.”

ENDS –
Note for Editors
The share sale includes eight Shell NZ entities: Shell Exploration NZ Ltd (SENZL), Taranaki Offshore Petroleum Company of NZ (TOPCO), Energy Petroleum Taranaki Ltd (EPTL), Energy Petroleum Holdings Ltd (EPHL), Shell Taranaki Ltd, Energy Infrastructure Ltd (EIL), SNZ (2011) Ltd and Energy Petroleum Investments Ltd (EPIL). As part of a separate transaction, Shell GSB Ltd (SGSBL) is also being sold.

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release “Shell”, “Shell group” and “Royal Dutch Shell” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ‘‘Subsidiaries’’, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this release refer to companies over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to “joint ventures” and
“joint operations” respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as “associates”. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed
or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ‘‘anticipate’’, ‘‘believe’’, ‘‘could’’, ‘‘estimate’’, ‘‘expect’’, ‘‘goals’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘may’’, ‘‘objectives’’, ‘‘outlook’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘probably’’, ‘‘project’’, ‘‘risks’’, “schedule”, ‘‘seek’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘target’’, ‘‘will’’ and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this release, including (without
limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks,
including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell’s 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2017 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov ). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, March 16, 2018. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this [report].

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this release that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

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