Shell said to sell more than $10b of assets

Royal Dutch Shell Plc could sell more than $10 billion of assets including its North Sea oilfields operations, the Sunday Times reported, citing sources close to the company.

Shell has hired Credit Suisse to sell its $1 billion European liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) arm, the paper said, adding first-round bids of about $500 million have also been lodged for a network of petrol stations across Africa.

Shell, Europe’s second-largest oil company by market value, declined to comment.

It pledged $1 billion in cost cuts and 1,000 job reductions in 2010 — mainly to come from the downstream unit — and upped the target for refinery divestments when it posted a 75 percent drop in fourth-quarter profits this month.

Shell is looking at a $5 billion disposal program for onshore fields in Nigeria, an exit from Sweden, and a $1.2 billion auction of three European refineries, the paper said.

Source: Reuters