Royal Dutch Shell Plc is reportedly reviewing its holdings in the largest oil field in the U.S., according to reports Sunday.
The potential sale could include all of Shell’s 260,000 acres in the Permian Basin, mostly in Texas, as the company
RDS.A,
+0.77%
RDS.B,
+1.14%
refocuses on existing production elsewhere and transitions to lower-carbon ventures, Reuters reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Such a sale could raise as much as $10 billion, CNBC said, also based on an unidentified insider familiar with the talks. The sale was not expected to be imminent.
Read: No major stock indexes are on a path to hit the 2°C Paris climate goal — here’s which market runs the hottest
Shell has stepped up its investment in renewable-energy sources and made carbon-reduction pledges. But a Dutch court last month ordered Shell to cut its carbon emissions by a more-aggressive 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels in a landmark case brought by climate activism groups.
Barron’s: Big Oil Stocks Are Being Targeted by Climate Activists. Why That Could Backfire.
At Shell rival ExxonMobil
XOM,
-0.92%,
powerful shareholders have just pushed three climate-minded board members into seats.
In recent weeks, the historically oil-friendly International Energy Agency surprised markets with a position report saying the world must stop investing in new oil and gas wells in order to hit ambitious climate goals by 2050.
Energy production of all types combined accounts for 72% of global emissions.
Read: Keystone XL pipeline project scuttled, in major win for environmentalists
U.K.-traded shares are up more than 9% in the year to date. U.S.-traded ADRs are up 15% in the year to date. U.S. oil futuresCL00 are up 49% this year to nearly $72 per barrel, more than double their 2020 COVID-lockdown low.
Read: How oil soaring to $100 a barrel could be bad for this boom-bust sector and the economy
