Shell has closed an underwriting agreement with a group of investment banks for the sale of its 8-percent interest in Canadian Natural Resources for about US$3.3 billion, the company said today. The underwriters’ group includes Goldman Sachs, Scotiabank, RBC, and TD Securities, Shell also said. The sale is part of a US$30-billion divestment program that Shell approved after its acquisition of BG Group that made it a leading player in natural gas but cost it more than US$50 billion and swelled its debt burden. Over the first two years of its implementation, the three-year program has resulted in divestments of US$22.3 billion as of the end of 2017. As part of this program, Shell sold most of its oil sands assets, including most of its 60-percent stake in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, which it sold to its partner Canadian Natural Resources. The exit from the oil sands also […]