Shell Canada Energy, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell, has signed an agreement to divest approximately 206,000 net acres of non-core oil and gas assets in Western Canada to Tourmaline Oil for $1bn.

The assets considered for sale include 61,000 net acres in the Gundy area of Northeast British Columbia, Canada, and 145,000 net acres in the Deep Basin area of West Central Alberta, Canada.

Shell said that the assets are producing 24,850 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) of dry gas and liquids.

Shell upstream director Andy Brown said: “Shell retains a significant shale position in Canada and we are actively working to mature our attractive core asset base in the Montney and Duvernay.”

Brown noted that the non-core oil and gas properties are being sold to Tourmaline Oil as they do not fit with the company’s near-term development plans.

The divestment is part of Shell’s $30bn asset divestment program globally, reported Reuters.

Upon completion of the deal, Shell will have approximately 430,000 net acres in the Duvernay liquids play in Alberta and approximately 218,000 net acres in the Montney gas play in Northeast British Columbia.

Tourmaline Oil said that the acquisition is part of its plan to become one of the North America’s largest and most-profitable natural gas and liquids producers.

With the addition of new assets, Tourmaline expects to achieve production level of approximately 250,000-260,000 boepd in 2017 and 310,000-320,000 boepd in 2018.


Image: Royal Dutch Shell’s headquarters in Den Haag, Netherlands. Photo: courtesy of P.L. van Till at nl.wikipedia.