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STATEMENT BY ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC: Shell and ExxonMobil divest from German gas pipeline assets

23 Nov 2007 

Shell Verwaltungsgesellschaft fuer Erdgasbeteiligungen mbH (Shell) and ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding (ExxonMobil) have agreed to sell the transport business of their German joint venture BEB Erdgas und Erdoel GmbH (BEB) including the technical operations currently provided by ExxonMobil Production Deutschland GmbH to NV Nederlandse Gasunie (Gasunie). Subject to regulatory approvals it is expected that the transaction will be closed in 2008.  

Gasunie will continue to operate BEB transport and the transferred technical operations and will ensure compliance with existing BEB transportation agreements and will also retain the current staff.

The agreement is subject to the approval by the relevant authorities. BEB’s exploration and production and storage activities remain unaffected by this transaction. ExxonMobil Production will continue to handle exploration and production activities for BEB on the basis of service agreements.

Charles Watson, Executive Vice President Shell Energy Europe, Shell Gas & Power, comments: “Shell is a leading producer and supplier of natural gas in Europe and is one of the world’s largest private-sector natural gas companies. This agreement is in line with Shell’s portfolio management strategy to maximise shareholder value. Our primary focus in the European gas business is on managing supplies and sales of gas to a large range of customers across a wide regional footprint.”

Kurt Doehmel, Shell Country Chair in Germany, adds: “For more than 30 years, Shell has a reputation as a dependable supplier of natural gas in Germany. We consider Gasunie a highly reputable company and we are confident that Gasunie will provide an excellent service in Germany, like they do in The Netherlands. Germany continues to be a core market for Shell’s European gas business.”

Background information:
BEB Shareholder:                           50% Shell, 50% ExxonMobil
BEB Gas Transportation network:    3100 km high pressure network
Staff BEB Transport:                       85
Additional information on BEB is available on www.beb.de

Shell Energy Europe B.V. (SEE) is the European arm of Shell’s Gas & Power business. With a staff of 450 spread over 12 countries, SEE focuses on managing supplies and sales of gas to a large range of customers across Europe. SEE can draw on an unequalled diversity of gas supplies from Shell’s gas production activities across the globe as well from third parties. The supply portfolio includes pipeline gas and LNG from Shell’s worldwide operations as the global leader in LNG.
 
Notes to Editors
 
Royal Dutch Shell plc
Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges.  Shell companies have operations in more than 130 countries with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of Liquefied Natural Gas and Gas to Liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects including wind and solar power. 
 
Disclaimer statement
 
This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ”anticipate”, ”believe”, ”could”, ”estimate”, ”expect”, ”intend”, ”may”, ”plan”, ”objectives”, ”outlook”, ”probably”, ”project”, ”will”, ”seek”, ”target”, ”risks”, ”goals”, ”should” and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this Report, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for the Group’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserve estimates; (f) loss of market and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this presentation, May 4, 2006. Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this document.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.  We use certain terms in this presentation, such as “oil in place” that the SEC’s guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC.  U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575 and disclosure in our Forms 6-K file No, 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.

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