Rystad Energy: Oil and gas majors could raise over $27 billion in global selling spree

The global oil and gas supermajors are looking to sell assets that could bring in a total of $27.5 billion, according to energy intelligence firm Rystad Energy.

The intelligence firm said on Monday that these companies were actively shedding mature assets on a massive scale to finance higher-yielding investments elsewhere.

The sale of mature assets would also please shareholders who are calling for stricter capital discipline.

Ranjan Saxena, an analyst on Rystad Energy’s upstream team, said: “The expected transactions mean some of the majors are poised to exit certain regions, giving regional players and independents a chance to buy into key fields and help keep them profitable through production-life extensions and new developments.

“While oil and gas majors increase their focus on core areas and divest mature assets and interests in geopolitically unstable regions, observers will be following closely to see how investors react and what other steps these energy giants will take to keep stakeholders interested amid rising climate concerns and geopolitical volatility.”

Rystad Energy stated in its latest report that ExxonMobil plans to divest assets worth $15 billion by 2021 as it focuses on developing oilfields in Guyana and the U.S. Permian Basin, as well as gas projects in Mozambique and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Chevron needs to raise capital for projects such as Tengiz in Kazakhstan, Contract 3 in Thailand, and its U.S. shale positions in the Permian Basin. The company is also considering a sale of assets in Nigeria which could be valued at up to $2 billion.

The company’s report claims that BP is looking to offload some of the U.S. shale assets that lie outside of its core areas in order to help fund last year’s $10.5 billion purchase of BHP’s North America subsidiary. The British company put seven asset packages on the market, like the gas-rich San Juan Basin acreage. A sale could fetch between $1.6 billion and $2 billion for all seven packages.

Total also plans a divestiture worth $5 billion by 2021. The company is looking to sell a third of its 16.8 percent stake in the giant Kashagan field offshore Kazakhstan, which could attract offers between $3.2 billion and $4 billion.

Dutch supermajor Shell plans to divest around $10 billion worth of assets by 2021 and is reportedly looking to exit the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia, which could raise between $1 billion and $1.6 billion.

Rystad ended the report with ConocoPhillips which placed its entire 234,000-acre asset in the emerging Austin Chalk play of Louisiana on the market, about a year-and-a-half after the position was first unveiled. The valuation is expected to be below $1 billion.

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