By Ron Bousso | LONDON
Royal Dutch Shell is in advanced talks with a party interested in buying its onshore operations in Gabon as part of a $30 billion divestment plan following its purchase of BG Group, which was completed in February..
Shell had informed its staff of the discussions on Thursday, a spokesman for the firm told Reuters on Friday.
The oil and gas group, which plans to exit operations in 5 to 10 countries, has made relatively slow progress in its divestments as uncertainty over oil’s outlook has dampened buyer enthusiasm for deals at the prices it is targeting. So far this year, Shell has sold or agreed to sell around $6 billion of assets.
Bids for the Gabon fields, which one source estimated could be worth around $700 million, were due in June.
Shell declined to comment on the identity of the potential buyer, but banking sources said that Carlyle Group, the world’s largest private equity fund, and Perenco, an independent European oil and gas company, reached the second bidding round for the assets.
As Shell and other big oil firms look to sell assets to weather the more than two-year downturn in oil prices, private equity and groups backed by funds have increasingly stepped into the sector.
A spokesman for Perenco declined to comment, while Carlyle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shell has been operating in Gabon for more than 50 years, and its holdings in the west African country include the Rabi Kounga and Gamba fields.
(Additional reporting by Arathy Nair in Bengaluru; Writing by Libby George; Editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
