Shell sells Philippine gas exploration business for $380m

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Oil major Shell has sold its gas exploration  business SPEX – a 100% owned joint venture that owns almost half the drilling rights for the offshore Malampaya gas field.

In a statement Thursday, the company said the transaction would close by the end of the year, but was effective from January 1 2021.

"Since it began commercial operations in 2002, Malampaya has supplied a significant portion of the Philippines' energy demand and it will continue powering the country with indigenous gas following a safe transition of the asset and its experienced workforce," said Wael Sawan, Shell's upstream director.

The disposal comes as the country seeks to consolidate its exploration operations around nine core positions of the UK, Brunei, Malaysia, Oman, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and the US Permian among the hubs.

The Nigerian government also said this week that it is continuing talks with Shell regarding its planned divestments of onshore assets in the country.

Shell has previously said that it wants to rebalance its future growth strategy towards midstream and marketing and away from upstream, as it moves forward with energy transition plans.