Shell to Sell North West Shelf Stake to XRG for US$1.45 Billion

Shell announced on November 3, 2026 that Shell Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, had signed an agreement to sell its 16.67% non-operated interest in the North West Shelf (NWS) project to wholly owned subsidiaries of XRG P.J.S.C. for base consideration of US$1.45 billion.

The consideration is subject to customary adjustments, and the agreement includes an additional milestone-linked contingent payment. The transaction has an effective date of January 1, 2026, and is expected to close in 2027, subject to several conditions precedent, including regulatory approvals. The buyers will assume decommissioning obligations and provide security for those obligations.

XRG is an international energy investment company focused on building a global portfolio across natural gas, chemicals and energy solutions.

Cederic Cremers, Shell’s Integrated Gas President, framed the disposal as a portfolio decision: “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.”

A Project Moving Beyond Its Original Fields

NWS is an LNG and domestic gas development in Western Australia comprising interconnected joint ventures involving Woodside, Chevron, BP, Shell, MIMI and CNOOC. Shell’s interest is not limited to a share of production. The package includes associated upstream interests, pipeline and midstream infrastructure, varying participating interests in related petroleum and pipeline titles, project agreements, offtake arrangements, NWS project companies and CNOOC-related joint ventures.

Declining production from the original NWS fields has created capacity at the project’s Karratha Gas Plant. The project is moving toward a mixed resource-production and third-party toll-processing business, giving its infrastructure an additional role processing gas for other parties as output from the original fields declines.

Shell’s 2023 sale of its interest in the Browse project provides further context for that transition. Browse was a proposed offshore gas development whose concept involved piping gas from the Browse Basin to Karratha for processing and export through existing NWS infrastructure. The latest agreement therefore separates Shell from another interest connected to the Karratha processing system while the project’s business model is evolving.

Shell Retains Other Australian Gas Positions

The sale does not end Shell’s Australian operations. It continues to operate the QGC project and Prelude FLNG, is developing the Crux project and remains a joint venture partner in Arrow Energy and Gorgon.

Shell says it also continues to invest in LNG and integrated gas globally and targets annual LNG sales growth of 4% to 5% through 2030. That target places the NWS disposal within a continuing gas strategy rather than a broader withdrawal from LNG.

The agreement consequently changes Shell’s role in a project it helped establish without removing its exposure to Australian gas. Shell is monetizing a mature, non-operated NWS position as the project adds third-party processing to its resource-production business, while the buyers acquire upstream and infrastructure interests together with the associated commercial arrangements and decommissioning responsibilities.