Royal Dutch Shell to sell New Zealand assets to OMV for $578 million

Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced it will sell assets in New Zealand to the Austrian oil and gas group OMV for $578 mn.

The deal includes stakes in the Maui and Pohokura gas fields and follows the company's sale of its stake in the Kapuni field last year.

Shell opened operations in New Zealand in 1911, but in 2015 announced a review of activities there as part of a streamlining of its global portfolio.

The sale was "another step towards reshaping and simplifying our company... in order to become a world-class investment," Shell's Maarten Wetselaar said in a statement.

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The head of OMV Rainer Seele said that the purchase was an important step in "developing as a core region" for the company, in line with its new strategy.

Shell said the deal was part of its plan to divest USD 30bn worth of assets by the end of 2018.

It hopes to complete the sale by the fourth quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approval.