Royal Dutch Shell Plc will sell almost all of its production assets in Canada’s oil sands in a $7.25 billion deal that cuts debt and reduces involvement in one of the most environmentally damaging forms of fossil-fuel extraction. All of the company’s oil-sands interests apart from a 10 percent stake in the Athabasca mining project will be sold to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Shell said Thursday. The Hague-based company will continue as operator of the Scotford upgrader, which converts heavy oil to lighter liquids for easier transport, and the Quest carbon capture and storage project. The Anglo-Dutch producer is almost two-thirds of the way through a $30 billion divestment program to reduce debt, which soared following its biggest-ever acquisition of BG Group Plc last year. The company this week ended an almost two-decade old U.S. refining partnership with with Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and earlier this year sold a […]