Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDS-B, RDSB.L, RDSA.L,RDS-A) said that it agreed to sell a stake in the West Qurna 1 oil field in Iraq to Japan's Itochu Corp. for an undisclosed amount . The company is also expected to give up its holding in Iraq's Majnoon oil field later this year, though it will retain its natural-gas interests in the country.
Separately, Royal Dutch Shell announced a final investment decision on the redevelopment of the Penguins oil and gas field in the UK North Sea.
The decision authorises the construction of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the first new manned installation for Shell in the northern North Sea in almost 30 years.
The redevelopment is an attractive opportunity with a competitive go-forward break-even price below $40 per barrel. The FPSO is expected to have a peak production (100%) of circa 45,000 boe/d.
The Penguins field currently processes oil and gas using four existing drill centres tied back to the Brent Charlie platform. The redevelopment of the field, required when Brent Charlie ceases production will see an additional eight wells drilled, which will be tied back to the new FPSO vessel. Natural gas will be exported through the tie-in of existing subsea facilities and additional pipeline infrastructure.
The Penguins field is in 165 metres (541 feet) of water, approximately 150 miles north east of the Shetland Islands. Discovered in 1974, the field was first developed in 2002 and is a joint venture between Shell (50% and operator) and ExxonMobil (50%).
In a separate press release, ITOCHU said it reached an agreement with E.R. Probyn Ltd., a Canadian Corporation and Welco Lumber Company, a US Corporation to acquire all of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Alta Forest Products LLC from Probyn and Welco.
Alta is the largest wood fence board manufacturer in North America, producing 360 million board feet annually in its four (4) manufacturing plants located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
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