ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell Bid Up to $8 Billion for Shell US Chemical Assets
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Aug 24
ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell Bid Up to $8 Billion for Shell US Chemical Assets
3 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Aug 24
Summary
$8 billion in non-binding offers were submitted last month for all or parts of Shell’s US chemicals business, with ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell, Apollo and Kuwait Petroleum’s chemicals arm among interested parties.
Shell is marketing the assets because it sees chemicals as underperforming and wants to refocus on core oil and gas operations after saying last year that $45 billion of capital was tied up in weak businesses.
The portfolio spans four sites in Louisiana, Texas and Pennsylvania, including the Monaca complex, where Shell invested $14 billion and which can produce up to 1.6 million tonnes of polymers a year.
Any sale would come at a steep discount to Shell’s investment, though improved market conditions after this year’s Middle East-driven price surge may have made a disposal more feasible than when the unit was lossmaking.
The planned exit contrasts with peers such as Chevron, Adnoc and Saudi Aramco, which have been expanding in chemicals even as Shell pursues a broader shift back toward hydrocarbons, including its $16.4 billion ARC Resources deal.