Media: Shell and ExxonMobil began the sale of a major gas JV in Europe

MOSCOW, 6 Sep — PRIME. Anglo-Dutch Shell and American ExxonMobil have begun selling a joint venture (JV) to NAM, which operates the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands, expecting to raise more than a billion dollars from the deal, Reuters reported, citing a document and industry sources.

Shell and Exxon Mobil have put up for sale one of the largest and oldest natural gas operations in Europe. Two industry sources say the companies could make more than $1 billion from selling NAM in the Netherlands. The cost of the joint venture’s assets may vary in the range of $1-1.5 billion, sources say.

Shell and Exxon recently began the process of selling NAM’s offshore gas assets, which include a number of fields and about 20 offshore platforms, as well as a pipeline network and three processing plants, the agency said. The assets, among other things, include NAM shares in three gas processing plants of the Den Helder terminal and shares in several pipeline networks. At the same time, the JV owns several end-of-life assets that require significant additional costs for dismantling and cleaning up after their closure, the sources said.

NAM’s offshore and onshore assets for sale produced about 2.4 million cubic meters of natural gas per day in 2021, and production could be increased to 2.8 million cubic meters per day of gas with further investment, the document said.

The Groningen field was discovered in 1959 and since 1963 NAM has been producing natural gas there. Its production has been declining since 2014, as production is limited due to a government decree to close the field due to seismic risks.