Shell Offshore Inc. has completed the sale of its interests in the Na Kika platform and the Coulomb tieback in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to a subsidiary of Talos Energy Inc. and an affiliate of Ridgewood Energy Corp., the parties said Sept. 22.
Shell said it received about $840 million in cash proceeds, reflecting adjustments between the July 1, 2025, effective date and closing. Total consideration announced when the deal was signed in June was $1.7 billion, before customary adjustments and certain contingent payments.
Talos said its final net cash purchase price at closing was $420 million, including a $42.5 million deposit previously placed in escrow, and remains subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The Houston company had earlier projected a net payment of $450 million to $500 million based on an assumed Sept. 1 closing.
The sale covers Shell's 50% non-operated working interest in Na Kika and four associated fields, along with its wholly owned Coulomb tieback. Talos acquired a 50% working interest in and operatorship of Coulomb and a 25% non-operated interest in Na Kika and the Kepler, Ariel, Fourier, and Herschel fields. BP, which operates Na Kika, holds the remaining 50% working interest. BP had a 30-day preferential right to purchase the divested Na Kika stake, which would have limited Talos to the Coulomb interest had it been exercised.
Talos President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Goodfellow said the closing "marks another important step in executing our strategy to build a long-lived, scaled portfolio and become the leading pure-play offshore E&P." He said the assets "immediately enhance our scale, increase free cash flow generation, improve our margins, and provide infrastructure-led growth opportunities that leverage our core strengths in the Gulf of America."
Shell said the divestment supports its effort to shape its portfolio "to ensure a resilient and increasingly competitive Upstream business." The company will receive uncapped upside-linked payments through 2027 and overriding royalty interests on production from new Na Kika tiebacks, subject to conditions. Talos has described the arrangement as a 50% upside-sharing mechanism running through year-end 2027 when realized oil prices top $60 a barrel.
The buyers assumed certain decommissioning obligations and posted security against them. Shell Trading US Co. retains offtake rights from both Na Kika and Coulomb under negotiated agreements with the buyers.
Shell's entitlement share of production from the assets averaged 37,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025. The company reported proved reserves of 4.3 million boe at Na Kika and 7.2 million boe at Coulomb as of the end of 2025, and has said its own modeling shows neither field will be a meaningful contributor to production by 2030. Talos, using a year-end 2025 NSAI report covering the interests it acquired, put proved reserves at roughly 23 million boe and probable reserves at 10 million boe, with first-quarter 2026 production of about 16,000 boe/d, approximately 77% oil.
The Na Kika semi-submersible, Shell's only non-operated platform in the U.S. Gulf, began producing in 2003. Coulomb came online in 2005.
Talos said third-quarter 2026 results will include contributions from the acquired assets from the closing date through quarter-end, with the assets fully consolidated beginning in the fourth quarter. Updated full-year 2026 guidance will accompany the company's third-quarter earnings release.
