RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc ("Shell"), and its bid consortium member Chevron Brasil Óleo & Gás Ltda ("Chevron"), today won a 35-year production sharing contract for the Saturno pre-salt block located off the coast of Brazil in the Santos Basin. Shell will pay its share of the total signing bonus for the block, equating to approximately USD $390 million [R$ 1,562 billion].

"We are pleased to add another material, operated exploration position to our leading portfolio in one of the world's most prolific deep-water areas," said Andy Brown, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. "We continue to grow an exciting and resilient Upstream business of long-term competitive positions in our heartlands while maintaining strong, capital discipline."

With the addition of the Saturno block (Shell 50% operating, Chevron 50%) won today at the Fifth Pre-Salt Bid Round, Shell increases its total net acreage off the coast of Brazil to approximately 2.7 million acres. Shell will engage with Chevron to define specific plans for exploration drilling in the area won today.

Shell is a major oil and gas producer in Brazil with a clear strategy to continue developing an industry leading portfolio of pre-salt acreage through exploration. The company plans to drill the Alto de Cabo Frio West and South Gato do Mato pre-salt fields in the Santos Basin next year and is proceeding with seismic studies to mature two exploration blocks awarded earlier this year.

Since 2014, Shell has more than doubled its global, deep-water production and expects to exceed 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent by 2020, coming from previously discovered areas in Brazil, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria, and Malaysia. The company is also developing deep-water, exploration plans for its acreage off the coast of Mexico, Mauritania, and in the Western Black Sea.

Cautionary Note

Resources: Our use of the term "resources" in this publication includes quantities of oil and gas not yet classified as SEC proved oil and gas reserves. Resources are consistent with the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2P + 2C definitions.

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this release refer to companies over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to "joint ventures" and "joint operations" respectively.  Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''goals'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''plan'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''risks'', "schedule", ''seek'', ''should'', ''target'', ''will'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments.  All forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2017 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov ). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this release and should be considered by the reader.  Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, September 28, 2018. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement 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 this [report].

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this release that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

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