RPT-UPDATE 2-Shell sells stakes in Australian gas project for $1.14 bln

(Repeats story first published late Monday; no change to text)

By Sarah Young

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L said on Monday it had agreed to sell stakes in a gas project in Western Australia for $1.14 billion as part of the oil company's drive to improve return on investment.

Shell is selling an 8 percent stake in the Wheatstone and nearby Iago gas fields and a 6.4 percent stake in the related Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC).

The move raises KUFPEC's holding in the Chevron-led CVX.N LNG project, in which the state company is already a partner, to 13.4 percent.

"We are making hard choices in our worldwide portfolio to improve Shell's capital efficiency," Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden, who took over two weeks ago, said in a statement.

"We are refocusing our investment to where we can add the most value with Shell's capital and technology," he said, adding that the company would remain a major player in Australia's energy industry.

KUFPEC is focused on using OPEC member Kuwait's oil wealth to diversify into energy projects abroad. Wheatstone, one of the super-sized Australian LNG projects due to come on stream over the next few years, is about 25 percent complete.

With some 80 percent of its future production committed to Asian buyers, the project is scheduled to cost about $29 billion. Chevron expects capital spending on it to peak this year.

Shell issued a "significant" profit warning for the fourth quarter on Friday, in which it detailed across-the-board problems, less than three months after its third-quarter profits undershot analyst forecasts. News Search ID:nL5N0KR0H3

Analysts and shareholders said the company's weak results would push the world's number-three investor-controlled energy firm to keep a tighter control on costs after it said 2013 capital expenditure would peak at about $45 billion.

Since van Beurden began working alongside outgoing boss Peter Voser at the start of the fourth quarter, the company has cancelled plans to build a gas-to-liquids plant in the United States, raising investor hopes of a tighter spending regime.

Shell is not the only big energy company facing increasing investor pressure to hold down spending as costs rise and prospects for higher oil prices wane.

At $1.14 billion, the Wheatstone disposal kicks off a year in which Shell said it would significantly step up disposals to keep cash flowing in.

Recent media reports have suggested the company's divestments could total $15 billion this year, equivalent to around 6.5 percent of its $232 billion market capitalisation.

News Search ID:nL6N0KO3U2

"The thing that Shell has to do is accelerate divestments and re-instill capital discipline so in that vein it's positive," Santander analyst Jason Kenney said.

Analysts and bankers say another of Shell's Australian assets, its 23.1 percent stake in Australian group Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX - worth over $6 billion at current prices - could be put on the block.

Shares in Shell traded down 1 percent at 2,153 pence at 0939 GMT, underperforming Britain's blue-chip index.

Chevron CVX.N has a 64.14 percent stake in Wheatstone, which is due to come on stream in 2016. The other stakeholders are Apache Corp APA.N with 13 percent, Tokyo Electric Power Co

9501.T with 8 percent and Kyushu Electric Power Co 9508.T with 1.46 percent.

(Reporting by Sarah Young and Andrew Callus; Editing by Mark Potter and Dale Hudson)

((sarah.young@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 20 7542 1109)(Reuters Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))

Keywords: SHELL AUSTRALIA/SALE