Royal Dutch Shell still plans eventual exit from Woodside Petroleum investment
Royal Dutch Shell [LSE:RDSA] still plans to exit its 13.6% stake in Woodside Petroleum [ASX:WPL], The Australian reported.
The paper cited Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, as saying that the group still wants to sell out of Woodside, but has not yet revived plans to do so.
Woodside investors blocked a plan for the company to buy back 9.5% of Shell’s holding last year.
The report also noted that van Beurden would not say how the company might ease competition concerns raised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over Shell’s takeover offer for BG Group [LSE:BG]. However, van Beurden noted that the merger would likely support the development of Shell’s Arrow coalseam asset.
The ACCC delayed a decision on the BG/Shell merger last month due to worries the deal could limit gas supplies in Australia by warehousing supplies from Arrow.
Van Beurden noted that Shell would wait for the ACCC to present its findings and react appropriately.
The Australian