Chevron sells oilsands assets to Canadian Natural Resources for $6.5 billion

financialpost.com:

Chevron Corp. has agreed to sell stakes in oil sands and shale assets in Western Canada to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. for US$6.5 billion.

The deal relates to Chevron’s 20 per cent interest in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project and a 70 per cent holding in the Duvernay shale, both in the province of Alberta, according to a statement from the company on Monday. The all-cash transaction has an effective date of Sept. 1 and is expected to close during the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.

The asset sale comes as Chevron focuses its growth plans increasingly in other parts of the world, notably the Permian basin in the United States and the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, where a US$48.5 billion expansion project is nearing completion.

Chevron is also in the process of acquiring Hess Corp. for US$53 billion, a deal that would give it a stake in a massive offshore oil field in the South American country of Guyana, one of the world’s exploration hot-spots.

Chevron shares climbed as much as 1.3 per cent before the start of regular trading in New York. It’s the latest big oil producer to divest a stake in Canadian oilsands operations.

BP Plc, Shell Plc, ConocoPhillips, Equinor ASA and Devon Energy Corp. have all sold holdings in the mines and well sites of Alberta to local companies in recent years. That’s concentrated control of the oilsands in the hands of Canadian producers such as Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus and Suncor Energy Inc.

Oilsands are among the most damaging energy assets to climate change. Crude from the basin must be dug from mines or forced from wells injected with steam, making them some of the highest carbon-emitting grades of oil in the world.

Canada’s oilsands have been in production for