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Shell to close all fuel stations in Russia as it stops buying Russian oil and gas
The company’s CEO has issued an apology for buying Russian oil just last week
Shell has announced plans to close all fuel stations in Russia as it vows to stop buying Russian oil and gas.
The company has said the process to shut its Russian stations has ‘started immediately’, with its CEO Ben van Beurden apologising for recently buying a cargo of Russian oil after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said: “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.”
Beurden went on to say that Shell will donate profits from the remaining Russian oil to a dedicated fund, saying they will work with aid partners and humanitarian agencies to determine where the money will be best placed ‘to alleviate the terrible consequences that this war is having on the people of Ukraine’.
Shell said the phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and LNG was a ‘complex challenge’ that would require action from ‘governments, energy suppliers and customers’.
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It said it will ‘withdraw from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil, petroleum products, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a phased manner, aligned with new government guidance’.
On Tuesday, Shell warned that it might take weeks to complete the removal of Russian crude oil from its supply chains.
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They added: “A transition to other energy supplies will take much longer.”
This comes as a number of companies boycott Russian-manufactured products amid its invasion of Ukraine, including supermarkets Morrisons and Co Op, who have both removed Russian vodka from their shelves.
A spokesperson for Morrisons said: “We have taken action on our vodka lines including de-listing Russian Standard.
“The product is longer available on our website and no further stock will be bought.”