Royal Dutch Shell said it will sell up to 10 percent of its oil and gas production, leaving up to 10 countries after its $54 billion acquisition of BG Group.
Shell, the world’s second largest oil and gas company, will be hoping the new cuts will help boost its shares, which have underperformed rivals since the BG deal was announced in April 2014.
CEO Ben van Beurden said the company would focus its short-term growth on deepwater projects in Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico as well in chemical projects in the United States and China.
Shell also gave the go-ahead for investing in a new cracker and polyethylene plant in the United States, one of a handful of investment decisions it will make this year as it grapples with the sharp drop in oil prices over the past two years.
In the long term, the company said it would target shale oil and gas production in North America and Argentina as well as renewable energies, hydrogen, solar and wind. It did not say which countries it might exit.
Shell said the savings and asset sales could lead to a return on capital employed of some 10 percent by the end of the decade, assuming a $60 oil price, compared with an average of 8 percent between 2013 and 2015. ■
