* Shell to sell 22.45 percent interest in Caesar Tonga
* Stake sale to benefit Shell's divestment plan
* Acquisition to beef up Delek's position in the energymarket(Adds details on Caesar Tonga field, Shell's divestments)
By Tanishaa Nadkar
April 11 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell on Thursdayagreed to sell its 22.45 percent stake in the Caesar Tonga fieldin the Gulf of Mexico for $965 million in cash to a subsidiaryof Israeli energy conglomerate Delek Group.
Located in the Gulf of Mexico, 300 km south of Louisiana,the field's current production rate is 71,000 barrels per day ofoil equivalent, with 90 percent of the output being oil.
The Caesar Tonga field has 30 more years of life andassuming no change in the rate of production, Delek's interestreflects 78 million barrels of oil equivalent reserves, Delek,Israel's government-owned gas retailer, said.
As part of the deal, Delek will sign a long-term agreementwith a Shell affiliate to purchase oil produced from the fieldfor 30 years at either market prices or prices matched tothird-party offers.
Delek Chief Executive Asaf Bartfeld said the deal, alongwith exploration in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, wouldboost its position in the international energy market.
Shell said the deal was likely to close by the end of thethird quarter and the latest stake sale would contribute to itsongoing divestment programme.
The Anglo-Dutch oil company last year sold its Danishupstream business to Norwegian Energy in a deal valuedat $1.9 billion.
Shell reported a sharp rise in cash generation in 2018 andsaid in January it would stick to spending discipline this yeareven as it looks to divest around $5 billion a year.
Its 2018 profit jumped by more than a third to $21.4billion, the highest since the 2014 oil market downturn.
The deal for Caesar Tonga is subject to the right of refusalby Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Equinor ASA andChevron Corp, which own the rest of the field.(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; editing by PatrickGraham, Arun Koyyur and David Evans)
