Royal Dutch Shell PLC has agreed to an $80-million sale of its Danish subsidiary AS Dansk Shell to Dansk Olieselskab ApS in a deal that will end Shell’s downstream presence in Denmark.
Alongside the 70,000-b/d Fredericia refinery, Dansk Olieselskab will purchase Dansk Shell’s local trading and supply activities, including its long-term purchase and sales agreements for refinery feedstocks and finished products, respectively, Shell said.
Subject to regulatory approval, the companies plan to complete the transaction in 2017.
Consistent with Shell’s strategy to concentrate its downstream operations on areas where it can be most competitive, the current divestment will complete the company’s exit from downstream activities in Denmark without any impacts to its Danish upstream interests, Shell said.
The announcement follows the company’s previous sale of Dansk Shell’s retail, commercial fuels, and aviation businesses in Denmark to Canadian-based convenience store firm Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., Laval, Que., in a deal that closed on May 1, Couche-Tard said on July 12 in its yearend 2015 earnings report.
Shell’s other recent downstream divestments include the sale of its downstream businesses in Australia and Italy, a number of UK retail sites, and the initial public offering of and further drop downs to Shell Midstream Partners LP (OGJ Online, Feb. 21, 2014).
In addition to shedding its marketing businesses in Denmark and Norway, its LPG businesses in France, and its 33.24% shareholding in Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, the company also entered a deal to sell its majority interest in Shell Refining Co. (FOM) Bhd., including the 125,000-b/d refinery in Port Dickson, Malaysia, to a subsidiary of China’s Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Shandong, by yearend (OGJ Online, Feb. 1, 2016).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].