Shell in talks to buy €1.5bn Repsol assets Repsol, the Spanish oil company, is on the verge of selling a collection of liquefied natural gas assets to Royal Dutch Shell in a deal that could be announced as early as Tuesday. Following the expropriation of Repsol's Argentine YPF unit by the country's government last year, the Spanish group has been battling to maintain its investment-grade credit rating by cutting its debt levels. The price Repsol would achieve in the auction of the LNG business was not clear, but was expected to be above €1.5bn. People with knowledge of the deal said that it could be announced as early as Tuesday afternoon. Repsol reports its full-year results on Thursday. Repsol and Royal Dutch Shell declined to comment. The deal to sell Repsol's LNG business, which has assets based across Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, Canada and Spain, had been delayed as a result of complications surrounding the Canadian part of the unit, Canaport, which is expected to be excluded from a final sale. Canaport, which is three quarters owned by Repsol, has proven to be the least attractive asset in the package as a result of a glut of shale gas in North America pushing down the continent's gas prices. Companies including France's GDF Suez and Russia's Gazprom had considered bidding for the unit, but eventually withdrew from the auction, which is being run by Goldman Sachs. Early in the process Repsol had said it had received expressions of interest from 10 companies. Since the expropriation of YPF, Repsol had been forced to launch a strategic overhaul to sell assets and cut its debt after all three leading credit rating agencies placed the company's rating on the cusp of being downgraded into "junk." Earlier this year Fitch said the company's credit rating could be upgraded if it was successful in selling assets to reduce its debt. "The sale of Repsol's LNG assets would allow Repsol to remove a large debt burden from its balance sheet, although the potential exclusion of Canaport may influence final figures," said analysts at BPI. More importantly, the sale of LNG assets at the amounts mentioned, should allow Repsol to maintain its credit rating, which is its primary aim. Repsol shares were down 2.75 per cent in morning trading to €15.41, roughly in line with Spain's Ibex 35 index.