Shell is abandoning its Russian oil and gas resources and will close all its service outlets there, the British energy giant announced Tuesday.
The move makes it one of the first major Western oil companies to abandon Russia entirely due to its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Shell Chief Executive Officer, Ben van Beurden, apologised for buying Russian crude oil last week as he made the announcement, adding Shell will also change its crude oil supply chain to remove Russian supplies.
Shell currently gets about eight percent of its crude oil from Russia, to be turned into diesel, petrol and other products at its refineries.
The company will also shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia, and start a phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas.
A board indicates prices of petrol and diesel fuel at a Shell petrol station, in Manchester, on March 8, 2022. Energy giant Shell said it would withdraw from its involvement in Russian gas and oil, including an immediate stop to purchases of crude from the country. (OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty)
“This is a complex challenge,” the statement said. “Changing this part of the energy system will require concerted action by governments, energy suppliers and customers, and a transition to other energy supplies will take much longer.”
The chief executive added: “We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel – despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking – was not the right one and we are sorry.
“As we have already said, we will commit profits from the limited, remaining amounts of Russian oil we will process to a dedicated fund. We will work with aid partners and humanitarian agencies over the coming days and weeks to determine where the monies from this fund are best placed to alleviate the terrible consequences that this war is having on the people of Ukraine.”
British rival BP said last month it was abandoning its 19.75 percent stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft in an abrupt move that could cost it up to $25 billion, as Breitbart News reported.