Shell announces that it will not buy more oil from Russia and that it will close all its gas stations

The Anglo-Dutch company Shell will stop buying gas and oil from Russia and will close its gas stations in that country, it announced on Tuesday in a statement in which it also presented its “apologies” for having acquired Russian hydrocarbons after the invasion of Ukraine.

“Shell announces its intention to withdraw from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil, petroleum products, gas and liquefied natural gas, in a phased manner, in line with (British) Government guidelines”, the company pointed out.

As an immediate first step, Shell will halt crude oil spot purchases and close all of its service stations and aviation fuel and lubricant operations in Russia.

On February 28, Shell had already announced that it will abandon all the joint projects it has with the Russian giant Gazprom, which will give up its 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-II liquefied natural gas facility, as well as 50% in oil projects. of Salym and Gydan, in Siberia, and which terminates its participation in the Russian-German gas pipeline Nord Stream 2.

“We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a shipment of Russian crude to be refined into gasoline and diesel … was not the appropriate one and we apologize.”, said the firm’s CEO, Ben van Beurden, today.

The official indicated that they will allocate the profits from the remaining Russian oil that they still have to a fund to help the victims of the war.

For Van Beurden, the challenges facing the sector “highlight the dilemma between putting pressure on the Russian government for its atrocities in Ukraine and ensuring stable and secure energy supplies throughout Europe”.

Ultimately, the Shell CEO considered, it will be up to governments to decide on the “incredibly difficult sacrifices” that will have to be made during the war in Ukraine.

Shell shares on the Euronext market were trading slightly lower today and fell 0.5% to 23.8 euros.

-Assistance to Europe-

Shell will step in to help supply Europe with natural gas in the event of disruptions related to tensions between Russia and the West, Van Beurden said.

“If there are interruptions, possibly due to sanctions or other reasons, we will of course step in and do our best to supply Europe”, declared Van Beurden to the media.

He also added that Europe had never encountered significant supply disruptions from Russia “even at very troubling geopolitical times” in the past.

“Our actions to date have been guided by ongoing discussions with governments about the need to decouple the company from Russian energy flows, while maintaining energy supply.”, commented the executive director, although he warned that given the “physical location and the availability of alternatives”, this effort “could take weeks”.

(With information from EFE, AFP, Reuters)

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