 has sold its Gabon energy assets in a $587 million (£470 million) deal with the an organisation backed by Carlyle Group.){kind=link}
Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA) has sold its Gabon energy assets in a $587 million (£470 million) deal with the an organisation backed by Carlyle Group, a private equity fund.
According to the deal Assala Energy, a Carlyle-backed investment into sub-Saharan Africa, will pay Shell $587 million in cash and assume $285 million of debt. Additional payments up to $150 million will be subject to performance. Around 430 employees in the region are set to be part of the deal.
Andy Brown, Shell’s upstream director, said: “Shell is very proud of the strong legacy we have built in Gabon over the past 55 years. The decision to divest was not taken lightly, but it is consistent with Shell’s strategy to concentrate our upstream footprint where we can be most competitive.”
Nevertheless Brown added that “Shell will continue to pursue opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa”.
“Together with recent divestments in the UK, Gulf of Mexico and Canada, this transaction shows the clear momentum behind Shell’s $30 billion divestment programme,” he continued.
The Carlyle Group has been in negotiations with Shell over the assets for many months, after initial rival bids from European oil and gas business – Perenco. The deal is set to concern five Shell-operated fields and as well as involvement with four additional non-operated fields.
Shell has been in the process of offloading various assets or areas of concern within the business, as it oil companies continue to deal with plummeting oil prices. Whilst oil prices have pushed higher following the announcement of a deal between OPEC regarding output towards the end of last year, overproduction still remains an issue.
Alongside this most recent agreement, the oil company has also offloaded its Australian aviation fuel business in a deal totalling $250 million (£200 million). As well as divestment of its Canadian oil assets for $7.3 billion (£5.8 billion).
The Carlyle-backed Assala Energy deal is set to become complete later into this year.
Shares in Royal Dutch Shell Company are currently remains steady down 0.50 percent as of 15.22 PM (GMT).