Royal Dutch Shell Plc ( RDSa.L ) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp ( APC.N ) may let a 10-year joint venture in the oil-rich Permian Basin of Texas expire and split their properties, hoping to speed up development, according to a senior Shell executive. The divorce and re-parceling of acreage would let each company drill and develop new wells at its own pace in the Permian, which has become the U.S. oil industry’s hottest development area for its low operating costs as crude prices CLc1 hover under $50 per barrel. Shell and Anadarko have been discussing how to proceed after the partnership agreement expires this summer and are not likely to renew it, Greg Guidry, who oversees the Anglo-Dutch group’s shale business, told Reuters. The talks come as Shell hopes to boost its North American shale output by 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the next three years, […]