Reuters: UPDATE 1-Shell swaps oil field stake for Total gas
assets: Posted Friday 18 November 2005
Thu Nov 17, 2005 11:48 AM ET
(Changes dateline to London from Amsterdam and adds
background, detail)
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L:
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field for French oil major Total's (TOTF.PA:
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Research) interests in four natural gas fields in South Texas,
Shell said on Thursday.
The deal is in line with the Anglo-Dutch company's policy of
focusing on projects that can give a material boost to its resource
base and exiting non-strategic assets as Shell tries to improve its
weak record on replenishing reserves.
The transaction will bring Shell's holding in four Texas gas
fields to between 50 and 88 percent, in return for its 17 percent
stake in the Tahiti field, which is operated by U.S. rival Chevron (CVX.N:
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The deal will also help the world's third-largest listed oil
company by market value build the world's largest integrated gas
business.
"A key element of Shell's strategy is to add more integrated
gas, and these assets are an excellent fit with other onshore
properties in Texas and the Rockies," Shell said in a statement.
Tahiti is designed to have a daily production capacity of
125,000 barrels of crude oil and 70 million cubic feet of natural
gas, Chevron said on its Web site. It is expected to start producing
by mid-2008.
(Additional reporting by Karl Emerick Hanuska) |