Shell to Sell Interest in Parque das Conchas for $1B (Brazil)

Shell will sell a 23% share in the Parque das Conchas (BC-10) project offshore Brazil to Qatar Petroleum International for approximately US $1 billion.

 Shell will continue to operate BC-10 with a 50% working interest and retains a significant upstream presence in Brazil.

Currently, BC-10 is producing approximately 50,000 boe/d. Since coming on-stream in 2009, BC-10 has produced more than 80 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). Phase 2 of the project, to tie-in the Argonauta O-North field, came online on October 1st 2013, with an expected peak production of 35,000 boe per day. The final investment decision for Phase 3 of the BC-10 project was taken in July 2013 and once online is expected to reach a peak production of 28,000.

In late December 2013, Shell bought a 23% stake in Parque das Conchas from Petrobras for $1 billion increasing its ownership in the field to 73%. However, on January 17, the company issued a profit warning saying it expects its 4Q 2013 earnings to be significantly lower than recent levels of profitability, considering current oil and gas prices and the downstream oil products industry environment.

On that occasion, Ben van Beurden, the recently appointed CEO said: “Our 2013 performance was not what I expect from Shell. Our focus will be on improving Shell’s financial results, achieving better capital efficiency and on continuing to strengthen our operational performance and project delivery.”

Following the profit warning, Shell sold its stake in the Wheatstone gas project offshore W. Australia to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration for $1.1 billion. Beurden said it was a tough decision to to make: “We are making hard choices in our world-wide portfolio to improve Shell’s capital efficiency.”