Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Shell plc, has closed the sale of its 50% non-operated working interest in the Na Kika platform and associated fields in the Gulf of Mexico, together with its 100%-owned Coulomb tieback, for approximately US$840 million in cash.

The company received the proceeds after adjustments dated from the transaction's effective date of 1 July 2025. The deal had been previously announced and has now completed, Shell said in a statement.

Na Kika is one of the established deepwater platforms in the US Gulf, and the divestment removes Shell from a non-operated position there while severing full ownership of the Coulomb tieback. The transaction supports what Shell calls its efforts to actively shape its portfolio to ensure a resilient and increasingly competitive Upstream business.

Why is Shell selling non-operated deepwater positions?

The $840 million headline number is the operational figure that moves the story. For Shell, the sale converts a half-share in a mature Gulf platform and a wholly owned tieback into cash, sharpening a portfolio the company has been actively reshaping across its Upstream segment.

Shell framed the deal in portfolio terms rather than in production terms. The company did not disclose associated production volumes or reserve figures in the completion statement, and it did not name the buyer of the interests.

What changes at Na Kika and Coulomb?

The asset package covers:

• Shell's 50% non-operated working interest in the Na Kika platform and its associated fields in the Gulf of Mexico
• Shell's 100%-owned Coulomb tieback

Shell exits both positions entirely. The operator of Na Kika — which retained its own operated interest — now has a new partner in the 50% share. The completion statement did not detail future development plans for the platform or the tieback under the new ownership structure.

The effective date of 1 July 2025 governed the price adjustments between signing economics and closing, standard practice in Gulf of Mexico asset transfers where cash considerations are trued up for production and costs between the effective date and completion.

What is the watch item?

The watch item is what Shell does with the proceeds. The company has signalled continued portfolio high-grading across Upstream, and further Gulf of America — as the basin is now styled in industry usage — non-core divestments or, conversely, operated deepwater investment could follow.

For the buyer side, the open questions are the production profile of the acquired interests and any planned infill drilling or tieback work at Na Kika and Coulomb. Neither figure appeared in the completion announcement.

Shell plc trades in London, Amsterdam, and New York. The company did not state whether the proceeds would fund distributions, buybacks, or capital projects.