Shell mulls £2.2bn power stake sale

TROUBLED oil major Shell is said to be considering selling its share of global power venture InterGen for an estimated $4bn (£2.23bn).

'We are continually reviewing our portfolio of assets, including our shareholding in InterGen, to meet changing market conditions and to release capital to fund growth opportunities,' the company said.

Under the leadership of Jeroen van der Veer, who took over from Sir Philip Watts as chairman of the committee of managing directors in March following the oil and gas reserves reporting scandal, the company has been selling off underperforming and non-core assets.

In the first six months of the year, Shell agreed divestments worth $3.5bn.

Meanwhile, Russian courts today seized 76bn roubles (£1.4bn) from under-fire oil giant Yukos, which the company said would paralyse its ability to produce oil.

The firm's output is around 1.7m barrels a day, with about a third of that exported to world markets.

The news came after Russian oil output hit a new post-Soviet record in August, with energy ministry figures showing production topping 9.37m barrels a day in August, against 9.33m in July.

Last month, Yukos cut its 2004 output forecast by 4.5% to 1.72m barrels a day because of lower-than-expected investment.