The largest British-Dutch oil and gas company Shell stopped buying Russian crude on Tuesday and said it would phase out its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons from oil to natural gas over Ukraine, becoming one of the first major Western oil companies to abandon Russia entirely.
This is reported by Globenewswire.
This decision was made after the company was criticized for purchasing a batch of Russian Urals oil. Shell apologised on Tuesday for buying Russian oil last week after it had said it would pull out of its Russian operations, including the Sakhalin 2 LNG plant in which it holds a 27.5% stake and which is operated by Gazprom.
"We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil ... was not the right one and we are sorry," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said.
It is also reported that urgent oil contracts for spot purchases of Russian oil will not be extended.
Shell said it would change its crude oil supply chain to remove volumes from Russia "as fast as possible" and shut its gas service stations in Russia, as well as its aviation fuels and lubricants operations in the country.
The company said the supply chain change could take weeks to complete and would lead to reduced output from some of its refineries while its withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) would be phased.
The company also plans to end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 Baltic gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany, which it helped finance as a part of a consortium.
Shell warns that in the near future, in close coordination with governments, there will be an active search for alternative sources to replace Russian oil.