OREANDA-NEWS. August 28, 2012. Australian oil and gas production company Woodside Petroleum confirmed on Tuesday that it has agreed to waive its pre-emption rights in respect of a proposed sale of Chevron Australia's entire equity stake in the Browse joint ventures to Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd.

"The transaction involves Shell acquiring Chevron's entire interest in the east and west Browse joint ventures for a consideration comprising cash and assets," Woodside said in a statement.

Chevron was a joint venture partner in the Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia along with Woodside, BHP Billiton, BP and Shell.

In a separate statement, Shell said it had entered into a binding agreement for the exchange of Chevron's 16.7 percent interest in the East Browse title and Chevron's 20 percent interest in the West Browse titles with Shell's 33.3 percent interest in the Clio-Acme titles in the Carnarvon Basin offshore northwest Australia.

In addition to the assets exchanged, Shell will pay Chevron 450 million U.S. dollars as part of the deal, the company said.

Following completion of the deal, Shell will hold a 35 percent interest in the West Browse titles and 25 percent of the East Browse titles.

"This is a good deal, not only because it aligns with Shell's strategy of bigger direct stakes in key gas resources, but because it also helps to simplify the ownership of the Browse gas fields," Shell's Upstream International Director Andy Brown said in the statement.

Resource analysts say the deal between Chevron and Shell to swap LNG Browse holdings is a win for both companies.