(WO) – Shell has agreed to sell its 16.67% non-operated interest in the North West Shelf (NWS) LNG project in Western Australia to subsidiaries of XRG, ADNOC’s international energy investment company. XRG will pay a base consideration of $1.45 billion, subject to customary adjustments, plus a milestone-linked contingent payment. The buyers will also take on decommissioning obligations and provide security for them.
The interest includes associated upstream assets, pipeline and midstream infrastructure, and stakes in related titles, project agreements, offtake arrangements and NWS project companies. The NWS project is made up of several interconnected joint ventures involving Woodside, Chevron, bp, Shell, MIMI and CNOOC. As production from its original fields declines, the project is freeing up capacity at the Karratha Gas Plant and moving toward a mix of resource production and third-party toll processing.
“The sale realizes 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,” said Cederic Cremers, president of integrated gas at Shell. “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.”
Shell, which first explored a sale of the stake last year, said it still plans to grow LNG sales 4% to 5% a year through 2030. In Australia, it operates the QGC project and Prelude FLNG, is developing the Crux project and holds stakes in Arrow Energy and Gorgon. The company sold its interest in the proposed Browse gas development, which would use NWS infrastructure, in 2023.
The deal gives XRG a foothold in Australian LNG, a year after the company walked away from its takeover bid for Santos. The transaction has an effective date of Jan. 1, 2026, and is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.
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