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Shell Sells Shale Gas Rights For $2.1 Billion
By: Associated Press
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Royal Dutch Shell says it has agreed to sell drilling rights in shale formations in Louisiana and Wyoming for $2.1 billion in two transactions.
Shell also said Thursday that it will also receive drilling rights to land in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Shell is working to focus its onshore U.S. drilling program on a few of the more prolific formations in an effort to boost profitability. The company wrote down the value of its shale acreage in the U.S. by $2.1 billion last year amid lower natural gas prices.
Shell will sell its Pinedale acreage in Wyoming for $925 million and its Haynesville acreage in Louisiana for $1.2 billion.
Shell and other major oil and gas explorers regularly sell rights to fields where production is flat or declining. They then use that cash to fund exploration programs designed to discover new or more prolific fields that oil giants need to fuel growth.