BHP shale investment in the US ‘a mistake’

BHP BILLITON’S Chairman Jac Nasser said on Thursday BHP’s $20bn investment in US shale oil and gas six years ago was, in hindsight, a mistake.

BHP entered the shale business at the height of the fracking boom in 2011 and invested billions more developing the operations. The fall in oil prices since then has led to pre-tax writedowns of about $13bn on the business.

Activist shareholder and hedge fund Elliott Management, holding 4.1 per cent of BHP’s Londonlisted shares, has been trying to gain support from other shareholders to persuade BHP to sell the shale oil and gas business.

“If you had to turn the clock back, and if we knew what we knew today, we wouldn’t do it, of course we wouldn’t do it, but go back and put yourself in our position at that time,” Nasser said, referring to the shale purchase.

“We bought exactly what we thought we were buying, but the timing was way off.”

New York-based Elliott has directed a barrage of criticism at the global miner since releasing a list of changes in April it wants the company to implement.

Its list includes an exit from shale, removal of BHP’s dual London and Australian stock listings and greater emphasis on shareholder returns.

Nasser would not comment on Elliott’s proposal but he defended BHP’s performance.