Shell Australia will sell its 16.67 per cent non-operated interest in the North West Shelf (NWS) project in Western Australia for $1.45 billion, the company said on Tuesday.
Shell Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, has signed an agreement to sell the interest to wholly owned subsidiaries of XRG P.J.S.C.
The deal includes a base consideration of $1.45 billion, subject to customary adjustments, plus an additional milestone-linked contingent payment.
Shell said the transaction has an effective date of January 1, 2026, and is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions precedent.
Cederic Cremers, Shell’s Integrated Gas President, said: “This agreement reflects our commitment to disciplined capital allocation and portfolio choices.”
“The sale realises value from a mature, non-operated asset and supports Shell’s strategy by focusing investment on advantaged integrated gas positions, as NWS transitions in the future towards a third-party toll-processing model. We are proud of the role we played as a founding partner in NWS and the role NWS has in turn played in Western Australia.”
The NWS project is a liquefied natural gas and domestic gas development located in Western Australia. It comprises a number of interconnected joint ventures involving Woodside, Chevron, BP, Shell, MIMI and CNOOC.
Shell’s 16.67 per cent interest includes associated upstream interests, pipeline and midstream infrastructure. It also covers varying participating interests in related petroleum and pipeline titles, project agreements, offtake arrangements, NWS project companies and CNOOC-related joint ventures.
According to Shell, declining production from the original NWS fields has created capacity at the project’s Karratha Gas Plant, and NWS is moving to a mixed resource-production and third-party toll-processing business.
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In 2023, Shell sold its interest in the Browse project, a proposed offshore gas development whose concept involves piping gas from the Browse Basin to Karratha for processing and export through existing NWS infrastructure.
The latest deal includes the buyers assuming decommissioning obligations and providing security with respect to such obligations.
Shell said it continues to invest in LNG and integrated gas globally and will grow LNG sales by 4 to 5 per cent per year to 2030.
It maintains a strong presence in Australia, where it operates the Shell QGC project and Prelude FLNG, is developing the Crux project and is a joint venture partner in Arrow Energy and Gorgon.
XRG P.J.S.C. is an international energy investment company focused on building a global portfolio across natural gas, chemicals and energy solutions.
