News & Media releases
Shell sells its Oil Products business in French Guyana and French Antilles to Rubis Group
12/09/2005
Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) announced today that it had signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement and Trade Mark Licence Agreement with Rubis Group relating to the divestment of Shell's Oil Products businesses in the French Antilles (Guadeloupe, Martinique) and French Guyana. Shell had announced in June that it was reviewing an offer from Rubis.
The agreements relate to Shell's 24% interest in the SARA refinery in Martinique, a wholly-owned network of 54 retail service stations, distribution assets and facilities, commercial fuels, bitumen, aviation, lubricants, liquefied petroleum gas and marine businesses geographically spread across the region.
The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and completion is expected to take place by the end of 2005.
Shell SAGF Chairman, Jean Pierre Fiorentino said, "We are delighted with the outcome of this agreement. Rubis will continue to use the Shell brand under a Trade Mark Licence Agreement and Shell will keep supplying high quality fuels and lubricants to the region, thereby continuing to serve customers, dealers, and distributors and maintaining awareness of the Shell brand across the region."
"The business has been sold as a going concern and our priority now is to work with our staff, customers and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition and jointly grow the business," said Mr Fiorentino.
The divestment is consistent with Shell's strategy of managing its portfolio to deliver maximum value to customers and shareholders.
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 145 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. For further information, visit 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 risks, 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 (as amended) for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect the Shell Group's businesses. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any member of the Shell Group undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or other information.
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.