Royal Dutch Shell To Sell Six Gulf Of Mexico Fields For $450 Million

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA.LN), an independent oil and gas company announced Friday that it has agreed to sell its interest in six Gulf of Mexico oil and gas fields to W & T Energy VI, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of W&T Offshore Inc. (WTI), for $450 million, with an effective date of September 1, 2010, as part of an ongoing portfolio restructuring and focus on capital efficiency.

MAIN FACTS:

-This is part of the company plan to divest $7-8 billion in assets worldwide in 2010 and 2011.

-The divested fields are Tahoe, Southeast Tahoe, Droshky, Marlin and Dorado, and a Gulf of Mexico producing shelf property, and are predominately mature gas fields.

-These fields produce some 18,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day or boe /d, and have proved reserves of some 27 million barrels of oil equivalent (net to Shell's interest).

-A definitive agreement has been signed for all fields except for one of the fields, a Gulf of Mexico producing shelf property and associated assets, which is the subject of a Letter of Intent and is currently anticipated to close before year-end.

-Shell continues to make significant investments in the deep water Gulf of Mexico, where the company currently produces some 230,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

-Perdido, the most recent addition to the Shell Deep Water portfolio, began production earlier this year.

-Shell recently took the final investment decision on the 100,000 boe/d Mars B deepwater development (Shell 71.5%).

-Shell has also recently announced the potential for two new 100,000 boe /d deep water production hubs at the Appomattox (Shell 80%) and Vito fields (Shell 55%); following successful exploration and appraisal work on those prospects.

-Shares closed Thursday at 2089.50 pence

-By Zechariah Hemans, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9411; [e-mail]