By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 19 -- Shell Petroleum NV and Deutsche Shell GMBH—both units of Royal Dutch/Shell Group—signed an agreement with RWE DEA AG to acquire RWE's share in the 50:50, Hamburg-based joint venture Shell & DEA Oil GMBH. Shell & DEA Oil, which began operations in January, operate 650,000 b/d of refinery capacity and a network of about 3,200 retail stations in Germany.
The date of this transaction, which is valued at $1.35 billion, has been pushed forward. Under the original JV agreement between the firms, RWE had a put option that could have required Shell to purchase its share between mid-2003 and mid-2004. Shell's purchase gives it full ownership interest of the JV effective July 1.
Shell and RWE DEA expect to save $150 million/year through their JV.
