BHP Group Limited (BHP)

[eFinanceMarkets]

Bloomberg: BHP CEO tells investors U.S. shale options under review

BHP (BHP +0.6%) is exploring various options for its U.S. shale division, as CEO Andrew Mackenzie met with investors during the past week to stress that the company was open to selling parts of the shale portfolio, Bloomberg reports.

Mackenzie’s message to investors on shale is “they want to try and extract maximum value out of the business and there’s a lot of different options,” a Sydney-based senior investment officer at Argo Investments who attended a meeting tells Bloomberg.

BHP may be starting to bend to pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to carry out a wider review of petroleum operations.

Since acquiring the U.S. onshore assets in ~$20B earlier this decade, BHP has written off more than half their value and acknowledged recently that the deals were poorly timed and too expensive.