Shell to sell Na Kika stake to Talos, Ridgewood for $1.7bn

Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of Shell, announced this week that it had agreed to sell its 50% non-operated interest in the Na Kika platform to subsidiaries of Talos Energy and Ridgewood Energy for a total of $1.7bn. The sale includes associated fields in the US Gulf of Mexico, as well as Shell’s 100% owned Coulomb tieback, according to the June 30 announcement. Talos said in a separate announcement that the four associated fields are Kepler, Ariel, Fourier and Herschel.

Na Kika is Shell’s only non-operated platform in the Gulf and has been in production since 2003. Production from the Coulomb tieback started in 2005.

The assets produced 37,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) net to Shell in 2025. Shell’s share of proven reserves totalled 4.3mn boe at Na Kika and 7.2mn boe at Coulomb at end of 2025. However, the supermajor noted that according to its modelling, neither Na Kika nor Coulomb will be meaningful contributors to output by 2030.

“The Gulf of America is one of our highest-value basins, and we are actively shaping our portfolio to ensure our upstream business continues to be resilient and increasingly competitive,” stated Shell’s upstream president, Peter Costello. “We remain focused on sustaining our material liquids production into the next decade.”

BP operates Na Kika and owns the remaining 50% stake in the semi-submersible platform. According to the announcement, BP has the preferential right to purchase the assets within 30 days of being notified of the price allocated under the purchase and sale agreement (PSA).

Assuming BP does not opt to buy the assets, the transaction is anticipated to close by the end of 2026. Shell said that under the agreement, it will receive “uncapped upside-linked payments” until the end of 2027 and overriding royalty interests (ORRI) on production from new Na Kika tiebacks, subject to certain conditions. Shell Trading US will also retain rights to offtake from Na Kika and Coulomb through negotiated agreements with Talos and Ridgewood.

Talos said in its announcement that its share of the cash consideration for the assets was $850mn. Factoring in estimated interim cash flow from the acquired assets from the effective date of the acquisition, which is July 1, 2025, Talos expects its final net cash consideration to be roughly $450-500mn.

"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of these high-quality deepwater assets directly aligned with Pillar Two of our strategy,” stated Talos’ president and CEO, Paul Goodfellow. “The bolt-on is highly accretive, materially enhances free cash flow, and includes infrastructure-led exploration opportunities where our field life extension track record can unlock value beyond current reserves. We also see a clear pathway for operated development activity to compete for capital beginning in 2027, further supporting long-term value creation as we continue to advance our strategy to build a long-lived, scaled portfolio and become the leading pure-play offshore E&P."