Shell has sold its downstream assets in Australia to a consortium of Vitol (Netherlands) and Abu Dhabi Investment Council for about A$2.4bn (US$2.2bn). Two other consortia had expressed interest in Shell's service station network auction: TPG, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and the Kuwait Investment Authority on the one hand and, PTT and Macquarie on the other hand. In April 2013, Shell announced that it planned to sell its 120,000 bbl/d Geelong refinery in southeastern Australia, import terminals and its distribution network of 900 service stations.
The sale is part of a larger divestment plan aimed at selling US$15bn of assets worldwide within two years. In Australia, the group sold an 8% stake in the Wheatstone and Iago gas fields, as well a 6.4% interest in the Wheatstone LNG project to the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) in January 2014, for more than US$1bn.