Shell to exit $16.8-bn Mackenzie gas project in Canada

Royal Dutch Shell Plc yesterday said that it plans to sell its stake in the C$16.2 billion ($16.8 billion) Mackenzie gas project and other assets in Canada, a move that may further derail the long-delayed gas pipeline project.

The Mackenzie Gas Project, first planned in the 1970s but never got off the ground, is a proposed 1,196-km natural gas pipeline system along the Mackenzie Valley of Canada's Northwest Territories that would connect northern onshore gas fields with North American markets.

Shell Canada is looking for buyers for its 950-billion cubic foot Niglintgak natural gas field in the Mackenzie River Delta, as well as its 11.4-per cent stake in the planned Northwest Territories natural-gas pipeline project.

ConocoPhillips, Imperial Oil Ltd, majority owned by Exxon Mobil and the Mackenzie Valley Aboriginal Pipeline LP are the other oil majors in the MacKenzie Gas Project, which aims to bring natural gas from fields bordering the Arctic Ocean to the North American market.

Shell has opened a virtual data room and said that it will accept offers until 31 August. Included in the sale are all its assets in the Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories comprising of its original discovery, the Niglintgak field, and Camp Farewell.

Shell's decision to exit the Macenzie Gas Project is another major setback after the decades old plan has been stalled amid shifting industry economics as well as legal and regulatory hurdles.