Shell announces Gabon deep-water gas discovery

Shell announces Gabon deep-water gas discovery The Hague, 22 October 2014. Shell today announced a frontier explorationdiscovery offshore Gabon, West Africa. The well Leopard-1 encountered asubstantial gas column with around 200 metres net gas pay in a pre-saltreservoir. Leopard-1 is located around 145 kilometres off the Gabonese coast, west ofGamba. It was drilled in water 2,110 metres deep to a total vertical depth of5,063 metres. Shell and partners are planning to undertake an appraisalprogramme to further determine the resource volumes. "Shell has been exploring in Gabon for over 50 years. This latest deep waterdiscovery is a testament to the innovation of our explorers in pursuing newplays, and application of our global sub-surface expertise," said Andy Brown,Shell Upstream International Director. "We are proud to be sharing this successwith CNOOC Limited, our partner in the licence." Leopard-1 was drilled in license BCD10, operated by Shell (75%). Second partnerin the venture is CNOOC Limited (25%). This frontier discovery follows recent deep water exploration successes in theheartlands for Shell Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and Malaysia. Note to editorsFrontier is one of the themes that Shell distinguishes in its explorationportfolio which covers under explored basins.Pre-salt means that the target reservoir is situated below a layer of saltwhich is a very good seal for hydrocarbons. Enquiries Shell Media RelationsInternational: +44 207 934 5550Americas: +1 713 241 4544 Shell Investor RelationsInternational: +31 70 377 4540North America: +1 832 337 2034 Cautionary noteThe companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly ownsinvestments are separate entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell Group"and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references aremade to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, thewords "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general orto those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no usefulpurpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies."Subsidiaries", "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in thisannouncement refer to companies in which Shell either directly or indirectlyhas control, by having either a majority of the voting rights or the right toexercise a controlling influence. The companies in which Shell has significantinfluence but not control are referred to as "associated companies" or"associates" and companies in which Shell has joint control are referred to as"jointly controlled entities". In this announcement, associates and jointlycontrolled entities are also referred to as "equity-accounted investments". Theterm "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/orindirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company,after exclusion of all third-party interest. This announcement contains forward looking statements concerning the financialcondition, results of operations and businesses of Shell and the Shell Group.All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemedto be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements offuture expectations that are based on management's current expectations andassumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that couldcause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from thoseexpressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include,among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell andthe Shell Group to market risks and statements expressing management'sexpectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. Theseforward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrasessuch as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "goals","intend", "may", "objectives", "outlook", "plan", "probably", "project","risks", "seek", "should", "target", "will" and similar terms and phrases.There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shelland the Shell Group and could cause those results to differ materially fromthose expressed in the forward looking statements included in thisannouncement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crudeoil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currencyfluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f)loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physicalrisks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potentialacquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completionof such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countriesand countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal andregulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climatechange; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries andregions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation andrenegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays oradvancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement forshared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward lookingstatements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in theirentirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section.Readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements.Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in Shell's 20-Ffor the year ended 31 December 2013 (available at www.shell.com/investor andwww.sec.gov). These factors also should be considered by the reader. Eachforward looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, 22October 2014. Neither Shell nor any of its subsidiaries nor the Shell Groupundertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward lookingstatement as a result of new information, future events or other information.In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated,implied or inferred from the forward looking statements contained in thisannouncement.