One of the world’s largest oil companies is making good on a pledge to go back to basics and doing what it does best — producing oil and gas — by selling off a portion of its US renewables portfolio.Reuters reported that Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell is looking to unload about a quarter of its US solar assets held within a separate company called Savion. According to the report, New York-based Jefferies is marketing the sale of up to 10.6 gigawats (GW) of solar generation and associated assets presently under development. .Savion is developing 41.5 GW of solar and storage at various sites and has completed about 2.3 GW of them.The total value of the assets, scattered across the northeastern, southeastern and western parts of the country wasn’t immediately clear or what they would be worth to investors.Shell acquired Savion for an undisclosed amount in 2021 as part of a drive to diversify into low-carbon energy and reduce its carbon footprint. Shell and Jefferies each declined to comment on the accuracy of the reports.But it reinforces a pledge from the oil major made last year under new CEO Wael Sawan to refocus operations on higher-margin oil and gas in order to assuage investor concerns over its energy transition plans..“Performance, discipline, and simplification will be our guiding principles,"Shell CEO Wael Sawan.The company had previously faced concerns it was shifting away from oil and gas while they were booming while returns from renewables remained poor.Sawan is a 48-year-old of Canadian-Lebanese descent who has previously headed Shell's oil, gas and renewables divisions. In recent months he has moved to scrap several offshore wind, hydrogen and biofuels projects due to weak return forecasts.“Performance, discipline and simplification will be our guiding principles," he said in a statement after taking office in January, 2023. "We will invest in the models that work, those with the highest returns that play to our strengths."Shell has subsequently scrapped plans to cut oil production 20% by 2030 and will grow its natural gas volumes to defend its position as the world’s largest LNG producer. To that end, the massive LNG Canada project off the BC coast will come on stream later this year and ramp up through 2025.Last March it appealed a Dutch court ruling in a case filed by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth ordering it to reduce its absolute emissions 45% by 2030.
