THE HAGUE, November 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) announced today the signing of separate agreements for the acquisition of Murphy Schiehallion Limited 5.9% stake in the Schiehallion field west of Shetlands and for the sale of Shell's interest in the Seal area within the Peace River oil sands of Alberta, Canada to Murphy Oil Company Ltd.

The additional equity in the Schiehallion field brings Shell's stake to 55% and offers Shell access to substantial additional reserves and redevelopment potential in the UK, a current and future heartland for Shell Upstream in Europe.  The deepening in Schiehallion is part of Shell's continued portfolio optimization and our strategy of sustaining the existing upstream engine. 

Under the agreements Murphy, an active developer in the Seal Area in Canada and Shell's partner in a number of assets, will take over Shell's interest and operatorship of all the Seal facilities and leases.  This divestment does not impact Shell's focus on growth activities within other parts of its Peace River leases.  Shell has significant land holdings in the Peace River oil sands and has a regulatory application under review to increase its thermal production to 80,000 barrels per day with its Carmon Creek Project.

Notes for editors:

• The Schiehallion field is located in blocks 204 and 205, approximately 175 kilometres west of the Shetland Islands, off the Scottish coast.
• Other joint venture partners are BP (Operator) with 33.5%; Statoil - 5.9% and OMV 5.9%.
• In May 2012 Shell signed an agreement with Hess to acquire their 15.7% in the Schiehallion field.

Cautionary note
The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. '‘Subsidiaries'’, "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this release refer to companies in which Royal Dutch Shell either directly or indirectly has control, by having either a majority of the voting rights or the right to exercise a controlling influence. The companies in which Shell has significant influence but not control are referred to as "associated companies" or "associates" and companies in which Shell has joint control are referred to as "jointly controlled entities". In this release, associates and jointly controlled entities are also referred to as "equity-accounted investments". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect (for example, through our 23% shareholding in Woodside Petroleum Ltd.) ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as '‘anticipate'’, '‘believe'’, '‘could'’, '‘estimate'’, '‘expect'’, '‘intend'’, '‘may'’, '‘plan'’, '‘objectives'’, '‘outlook'’, '‘probably'’, '‘project'’, '‘will'’, '‘seek'’, '‘target'’, '‘risks'’, '‘goals'’, '‘should'’ and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for the Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserve estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory measures as a result of climate changes; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended 31 December, 2011 (available at http://www.shell.com/investor and http://www.sec.gov - opens in new window). These factors also should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, 14^th November, 2012. Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. There can be no assurance that dividend payments will match or exceed those set out in this release in the future, or that they will be made at all.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.  We use certain terms in this release, such as resources and oil in place, that SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC.  U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website http://www.sec.gov - opens in new window. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.

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SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc