THE HAGUE, Netherlands,
November 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Royal Dutch Shell plc
("Shell") (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:
RDS.B) announces an agreement to sell part of its stake in
Woodside Petroleum Limited ("Woodside")
to equity investors.
Shell's subsidiary, Shell Energy Holdings Australia Limited
("SEHAL"), has entered into an underwriting agreement with two
investment banks, for the sale of 71.6 million shares in Woodside,
representing 64.0% of its interest in Woodside and 8.5% of the
issued capital in Woodside, at a price of A$31.10 per share, resulting in total pre-tax
proceeds of approximately $1.7
billion (A$2.2 billion). The
sale is expected to complete on November 14,
2017.
Shell's Chief Financial Officer, Jessica
Uhl, said "This sale is another step towards the completion
of our three-year $30 billion
divestment programme, which is an important part of our strategy to
reshape Shell, to deliver a world class investment case, and to
strengthen our financial framework. Proceeds from the sale will
contribute to reducing our net debt."
Upon completion of the sale, SEHAL will continue to own a 4.8%
interest in Woodside. SEHAL has agreed that it will not dispose of
any of its remaining shares in Woodside for a minimum of 90 days
from completion of the sell-down, with limited customary
exceptions.
Notes for editors
Outside of its interest in Woodside, Shell has the following
interests in Australia:
- QGC venture (Shell operated, majority interest);
- Arrow Energy (Shell 50% interest);
- Gorgon LNG (Shell 25% interest);
- North West Shelf (Shell 16.67% interest);
- Prelude FLNG project (Shell operated 67.5% interest);
- Browse Development venture (Shell 27% interest);
- Sunrise LNG joint venture (Shell 26.6% interest)
- Shell Energy Australia (Shell 100% interest)
Recent history of Shell's investment in Woodside:
In November 2010 Shell sold 10% of
the issued capital of Woodside, retaining a 24.27% interest in
Woodside. This interest was further diluted to 23.08% because of
Shell's decision not to participate in Woodside's dividend
re-investment programme.
In June 2014, Shell sold
approximately 78.27 million shares in Woodside representing 9.5% of
Woodside's issued share capital, retaining an interest of 13.58%,
This interest was further diluted to 13.28% because of Shell's
decision not to participate in Woodside's dividend re-investment
programme.
During the second quarter 2016, Shell management concluded that
a change in Shell's level of involvement over Woodside's financial
and operating policy decisions resulted in Shell no longer having
significant influence. Its classification was therefore changed
from an associate (carrying amount: $2,144
million) to an investment in securities (carrying amount at
fair value: at change in classification in Q2 2016 $2,442 million).
Cautionary note
The companies in which Royal Dutch
Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are
separate legal entities. In this announcement "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 announcement 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 as "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 announcement 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 announcement, 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
announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the
cautionary statements contained or referred to in this
announcement. 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, 2016 (available at
http://www.shell.com/investor and http://www.sec.gov ). These risk
factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements
contained in this announcement and should be considered by the
reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the
date of this announcement, November 13, 2017. 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 announcement.
We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this
announcement that the 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 http://www.sec.gov
LEI number of Royal Dutch Shell
plc: 21380068P1DRHMJ8KU70
Classification: None
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SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc