Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, said Tuesday it would begin withdrawing from its involvement “in all Russian hydrocarbons,” including an immediate halt to all spot purchases of Russian crude and the shuttering of its service stations in the country.
The announcement comes just days after Shell was criticized for purchasing a tanker of Russian crude at a sharp discount. The company had said it was forced to make the purchase because it was unable to find alternative sources of oil for its customers, and that it would donate profits from the purchase to humanitarian causes.
The decision to purchase the fuel “was not the right one and we are sorry,” Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of Shell, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Shell’s announcement ratchets up the exit of Western oil companies from Russia. Last week, several of them, including Shell, said they would leave major investments in the Russian oil industry. But spurning Russia’s oil and gas — the country produces one in 10 barrels of oil globally and provides about one third of the European Union’s natural gas — will put a strain on alternate sources of both fuels, and inevitably push prices higher.
Shell said it could take several weeks to change its oil supply chain to cut out Russian crude. But the process of shutting the service stations and quitting aviation fuel sales in Russia would begin immediately, the company said.
The move goes beyond the company’s recent announcements that it would exit the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project and exit its joint ventures with Gazprom, the Russian natural gas company. The German government said in February that it would halt the certification of the natural gas pipeline.
Shell said on Tuesday that it would begin the phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas, but the process is a “complex challenge” that will also require actions from governments and customers. It would take even longer to transition to other energy supplies, Shell said.
“These societal challenges highlight the dilemma between putting pressure on the Russian government over its atrocities in Ukraine and ensuring stable, secure energy supplies across Europe,” Mr. van Beurden said in the statement. “But ultimately, it is for governments to decide on the incredibly difficult trade-offs that must be made during the war in Ukraine.”
"gas" - Google News
March 08, 2022 at 10:09PM
https://ift.tt/Fx0b7rh
Shell Says It Will Quit Buying Oil and Gas From Russia - The New York Times
"gas" - Google News
https://ift.tt/Kn5CqLP
https://ift.tt/YL4A0OT
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Shell Says It Will Quit Buying Oil and Gas From Russia - The New York Times"
Post a Comment