HOUSTON (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell says it has agreed to sell drilling rights in shale formations in Louisiana and Wyoming for $2.1 billion in two transactions.
Shell also said Thursday that it will also receive drilling rights to land in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Shell is working to focus its onshore U.S. drilling program on a few of the more prolific formations in an effort to boost profitability. The company wrote down the value of its shale acreage in the U.S. by $2.1 billion last year amid lower natural gas prices.
Shell will sell its Pinedale acreage in Wyoming to Ultra Petroleum for $925 million and 155,000 acres in the Utica and Marcellus shale formations in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
It will sell its Haynesville acreage in Louisiana to Vine Oil and gas and Blackstone for $1.2 billion.