Our businesses and organisation
Overall highlights in 2019
Projects & Technology overview
Financial data
Shales
As a Core Upstream theme, the Shales business continues to focus on high-margin tight oil positions and low-cost gas assets. We have strong asset positions in key shales basins: the Permian Basin in West Texas, Fox Creek in Western Canada and the Vaca Muerta in Argentina.
A key component of our strategic management is our commitment to high-grading the portfolio. In late 2019 we divested our Haynesville and Foothills assets. We secured additional acreage in Argentina in early 2020 when we acquired SPM Argentina, with Equinor as 50:50 partner. This provided Shell with a 24.5% working interest in the producing Bandurria Sur block in the Vaca Muerta next to our existing fields, with an option for an additional 5.5%.
The Shales portfolio is designed to provide short-cycle payback, creating a sustainable foundation of cash flow and complementing conventional and deep-water investments. We strive for our shales operations to be safe and efficient. We expect to deliver between $2 billion and $3 billion in organic free cash flow per year by 2025 at $60 per barrel (real terms 2016) with cash capital expenditure between $3 billion and $4 billion per year over 2021 to 2025.
The Shales business is exceptionally competitive and we continue to leverage advanced technologies to further drive efficiency and safety. In December 2019, we started up our first integrated iShale® production facility in the Permian Basin for the first time. iShale® integrates advanced analytics and automation to reduce the industrial and human intensity of shales development – creating more efficient ways of working. The installation of the facility was intrinsically safer, 20% cheaper, 50% faster, and 60% cleaner in terms of GHG emissions than traditional assets.
The field of the future: iShale® well pads, Permian Basin
We recognise that technology deployment and replication play an important role in delivering additional value and we continue to focus on cost savings and simplicity. The Shales business continues to benefit from Shell’s integrated business capability and our trading organisation provides the Shales business with access to the highest-pricing markets. We see this capability, coupled with our relentless focus on a competitive cost structure, resilient break-even prices, and strong operational performance, as a key differentiator.
