Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell is looking for potential buyers for parts of its North Sea operations, according to Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper.

The paper, quoting anonymous sources, says Shell has ‘quietly begun sounding out buyers… amid a slump that has seen the industry shed tens of thousands of jobs’. According to the Independent newspaper, some 7,500 Shell employees work in the North Sea operations.

The Sunday Times says chief executive Ben van Beurden is under pressure to justify the price of the recent takeover of rival BG and has therefore pledged to sell up to $30bn of assets.

The sources said Shell has no plans to exit completely ‘but could dramatically shrink its footprint’. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has been brought in to test for interest, the paper said.

Review

The Financial Times said later Shell had confirmed it is ‘reviewing the case for selling some of its North Sea assets’ in the wake of its £35bn takeover of rival oil and gas producer BG.

‘A review of all assets, including those in the North Sea, is under way as part of our commitment to the $30bn asset sale,’ a Shell spokesman told the paper.