Shell to buy Canadian shale producer ARC Resources for $16.4bn

Deal comes five years after Shell sold its North American shale business and is its biggest acquisition for a decade

Shell has agreed to buy Canadian shale producer ARC Resources for $16.4bn, five years after Europe’s biggest gas and oil producer sold its North American shale business.

The deal, which includes $13.6bn in cash and shares and taking on ARC’s $2.8bn debt, would be Shell’s biggest acquisition since it bought BG Group a decade ago.