MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell has agreed to sell a 26.25% stake in Australia's Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Common Facilities to US-based fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners for USD2.5bn, said the company.
This decision is consistent with Shell’s strategy of selling non-core assets in order to further high-grade and simplify Shell’s portfolio. The sale will contribute to Shell’s expected divestment proceeds, without impact on people or the operations of the QCLNG venture, and aligns Shell’s interest in the Common Facilities with its 73.75% interest in the overall QCLNG venture.
Due to the advantages it offers as a complement to renewable energy and as the cleanest burning hydrocarbon, natural gas is a core component of Shell’s strategy to provide more and cleaner energy solutions. Global LNG demand is expected to outpace total demand for energy and the QCLNG venture is crucial in helping Shell meet the world’s growing energy needs.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in Australia and customary conditions. It is expected to complete in the first half of 2021.
As MRC informed previously, Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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