Shell To Sell Its Equity Interest In The Elba LNG Joint Venture To Kinder Morgan

HOUSTON, July 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Kinder Morgan, Inc. KMI and Shell today announced that they have reached an agreement for Kinder Morgan to purchase 100 percent of Shell's equity interest in Elba Liquefaction Company, LLC (ELC), the owner of the Elba Liquefaction Project, which is proposed to be constructed and operated at the existing Elba Island LNG Terminal near Savannah, Georgia.  Kinder Morgan currently owns 51 percent of the ELC joint venture.  Shell owns the remaining 49 percent and subscribes to 100 percent of the liquefaction capacity.  Kinder Morgan will purchase the remaining 49 percent of the joint venture that it does not already own.  Kinder Morgan's expected incremental investment resulting from this transaction is approximately $630 million, bringing its total incremental investment in all the liquefaction and terminal facilities at Elba Island to approximately $2.1 billion.

Permitting continues for the proposed Elba Liquefaction Project, which consists of 10 small-scale liquefaction units to be purchased from Shell.  They will be integrated with the existing Elba Island facility and enable rapid construction compared to traditional large-scale plants.  The next step in the regulatory approval process is for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a draft environmental assessment.  Subject to regulatory approvals, construction could begin in fourth quarter of 2015, with initial production expected to occur in late 2017.

"We are very pleased to purchase Shell's equity interest in the joint venture and advance the project with Shell's continued support and subscription to 100 percent of the capacity of our world-class Elba Island terminal," said Kinder Morgan East Region Natural Gas Pipelines President Kimberly S. Watson.  "We look forward to this additional investment opportunity that provides attractive returns and that serves a high-credit quality customer in Shell."

"This is a good opportunity to leverage the proven track record of both companies to deliver an innovative LNG export project in the United States," said Ton Ten Have, Shell Upstream Americas VP LNG Operations and Growth.  "Shell and Kinder Morgan have successful relationships in North America based on Kinder Morgan ownership with Shell as a customer and we believe this will be a successful model at Elba as well."

In 2012, the project received authorization from the Department of Energy to export to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries.  An application to export to non-FTA countries is pending.  Under full development, the Elba Liquefaction Project is expected to have a total capacity of approximately 2.5 million tonnes per year of LNG for export, which is equivalent to approximately 350,000 Mcf per day of natural gas. 

The project was first announced in January 2013 by Southern Liquefaction Company, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and a unit of Kinder Morgan, and Shell to add liquefaction and export capability to Southern LNG Company, L.L.C.'s existing liquefied natural gas regasification terminal at Elba Island in Chatham County, Georgia.

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Royal Dutch Shell plc
Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges.  Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.  For further information, visit www.shell.com.

Cautionary note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell Group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. "Subsidiaries", "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this announcement refer to companies in which Shell either directly or indirectly has control, by having either a majority of the voting rights or the right to exercise a controlling influence. The companies in which Shell has significant influence but not control are referred to as "associated companies" or "associates" and companies in which Shell has joint control are referred to as "jointly controlled entities". In this announcement, associates and jointly controlled entities are also referred to as "equity-accounted investments". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This announcement contains forward looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Shell and the Shell Group. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell and the Shell Group to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "goals", "intend", "may", "objectives", "outlook", "plan", "probably", "project", "risks", "seek", "should", "target", "will" and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shell and the Shell Group and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in Shell's 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2014 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These factors also should be considered by the reader.  Each forward looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, 15 July 2015. Neither Shell nor any of its subsidiaries nor the Shell Group undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward looking statements contained in this announcement.

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SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc