Skip to content
Subscriber Only

Shell Heads for Cleaner Future With Sale of Polluting Oil Sands

  • Gas reserves will account for 60 percent of total after deal
  • Shell remaking itself for low-carbon world, but some want more
Royal Dutch Shell oil sand mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg/Bloomberg
Updated on

Royal Dutch Shell Plc just took a big step toward remaking itself as a natural gas company.

With Thursday’s deal to sell $7.25 billion of Canadian oil-sands assets, Shell will boost the share of cleaner-burning gas in its proven reserves from about half to 60 percent, Shell data show. It will also rid itself of some of the most polluting assets on its books.