Shell Australia to sell down its remaining 24.27% stake in Woodside Petroleum worth approximately $8 billion; Is Shell losing interest because it is unable to acquire Woodside completely???

SHELL Australia chairwoman Ann Pickard says “We hoped Woodside would be the vehicle (to develop projects in Australia)  but when it became clear Woodside couldn’t be the vehicle we decided to develop our own projects”.  

Woodside holds interests in oil and gas assets in Australia, the Gulf of Mexico, Korea, and Brazil. Woodside’s principal assets in Australia include: Pluto LNG, Browse LNG, Sunrise LNG, North Rankin Redevelopment and North West Shelf Oil FPSO Replacement Project. 

The key highlights of Woodside include:

-- Woodside’s share of production for the quarter ended 31 Dec 2010: 17.688 MMBOE (Oil 41%)
-- 2010 year end reserves: Proved - 1.308 MMBOE, Proved plus Probable (2P) - 1.680 MMBOE (Gas-84%) and contingent resources - 1.814 MMBOE
-- 99% of 2P Reserves are in Australia and remaining 1% in GoM and other international areas.