News & media releases
Mubadala Development and Shell sign MOU to form strategic alliance
12/06/2005
Abu Dhabi, June 12, 2005 - HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended today a ceremony held at his palace to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Mubadala Development Company, a wholly-owned investment and development vehicle of the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and Shell EP International Ltd, which is intended to lead to the formation of a strategic alliance.
The MOU provides the general framework upon which Mubadala Development and Shell will form the alliance, which is expected initially to focus on the Middle East and North Africa, outside Abu Dhabi. Areas of cooperation are likely to include the economic development of new and existing hydrocarbon resources, and the research and development of economically viable and environmentally acceptable energy solutions.
The agreement was signed by His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chief Executive Officer, Mubadala Development, and Malcolm Brinded, Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production.
HE Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak said today: “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Shell is in line with our objective to partner with the best in the business and build a substantial oil and gas portfolio in the region and internationally. Mubadala looks forward to developing many exciting business opportunities with Shell in the Middle East and North Africa, and elsewhere.”
Mr Brinded said: “We look forward to working closely with Mubadala. The Middle East and North Africa are important regions for Shell and they are regions in which we are expanding. With Mubadala’s strong regional relationships and our technical and operational expertise, we will now have even more to offer resource-holding countries.”
Notes to Editors
Shell’s involvement in Abu Dhabi goes back to 1939 as a shareholder in the Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Ltd. Shell is a partner with ADNOC in oil production and gas processing in Abu Dhabi.
Mubadala Development is a Public Joint Stock company, established and wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi with a mission to invest in commercially-viable, strategic, industrial and commercial partnerships.
The company’s portfolio of international investments includes a stake in nine oil exploration blocks in Libya and a 25% stake in the Dutch fleet management giant LeasePlan Corporation, while its local and regional investments include a 51% majority stake in Dolphin Energy and shares in many other companies, such as Aldar Properties, National Central Cooling Company, Abu Dhabi Ship Building, Imperial College London Diabetes center in Abu Dhabi, and Tanqia. Mubadala is also involved in a Public-Private Partnership to develop the UAE University’s new campus in Al Ain. For further information please visit: www.mubadala.ae - opens in new window.
The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, “the Group”, is a diverse group of energy companies with operations in around 140 countries. The Group’s businesses include oil and gas exploration and production; power generation; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects including wind and solar power. The Group’s parent companies are Royal Dutch Petroleum Company which has a 60% interest in the Group and The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company plc which has a 40% interest in the Group. Shares in the parent companies are traded on stock exchanges in Europe and the US. On 28 October 2004 Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading announced proposals for their unification under a single company, Royal Dutch Shell plc, with one Board of Directors. For further information, visit http://www.shell.com
Disclaimer statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements, that are subject to risk factors associated with the oil, gas, power, chemicals and renewables business. It is believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, but may be affected by a variety of variables which could cause actual results, trends or reserves replacement to differ materially, including, but not limited to: price fluctuations, actual demand, currency fluctuations, drilling and production results, reserve estimates, loss of market, industry competition, environmental risks, physical risk, risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets and the successful negotiation and consummation of transactions, the risk of doing business in developing countries, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions, political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates.
Please refer to the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2004 for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect the Companies' businesses. Neither of the Companies undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.
Cautionary Note to US Investors:
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 “expected producible resources” and “amount of reserves we expect to produce”, that the SEC’s guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC.