PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Energy major Royal Dutch Shell has announced plans to sell its 8% equity stake in the Wheatstone-Iago joint venture (JV) project and its 6.4% interest in the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project for $1.13-billion.

The major this week revealed that the sales agreement had been struck with Wheatstone JV partner Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, which meant that there was no impact on the existing commercial agreements for the project.

Wheatstone is located 12 km west of Onslow and would consist of two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9-million tonnes a year, along with a domestic gas plant.

The project had an estimated development cost of some $29-billion.

“Shell will remain a major player in Australia’s energy industry. However, we are refocusing our investment to where we can add the most value with Shell’s capital and technology,” said CEO Ben van Beurden.

“We are making hard choices in our world-wide portfolio to improve Shell’s capital efficiency,” he added.

Reports also surfaced on Tuesday that Shell had cut about 250 jobs at it Arrow Energy JV with PetroChina, casting doubts on a multibillion-dollar LNG project in Queensland.

The Queensland government last year approved the A$15-billion LNG plant planned on Curtis Island, which would produce up to 18-million tonnes of LNG a year through a staged development.

A spokesperson for Arrow confirmed the company had “conducted a review of staffing levels as it manages costs”, reportedly adding that it would be a “difficult time for employees”.

Earlier this month, Shell warned that its fourth-quarter earnings for 2013 would be “significantly lower” than previous quarters as current prices for oil and gas products, and downstream oil products continued to decline.

Fourth-quarter earnings were expected to be down to $2.2-billion, compared with the $7.3-billion reported in the previous corresponding period, while full-year earnings would fall to $16.8-billion in 2013, from $27.2-billion in the 2012 financial year.