Shell apologizes for buying Russian oil and announces its withdrawal in stages

pioneer oil seashells On Tuesday, it apologized for purchasing a heavily discounted cargo of Russian oil and announced its withdrawal from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons.

“As an immediate first step, the company will stop all spot purchases of Russian crude oil. It will also close service stations and operations of jet fuel and lubricants in Russia.” She said in a statement.

On Friday, Shell bought 100,000 metric tons of Ural crude from Russia. Reportedly purchased at a standard discountwith many companies avoiding Russian oil because of Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor. The purchase did not violate any Western sanctions.

The company faced heavy criticism over the purchase, including from Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who urged Companies to sever all trade ties with Russia.

Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, said on Tuesday that the company was “very aware that our decision last week to buy a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products such as gasoline and diesel – despite ensuring security of supply was at the forefront of our thinking – was not.” Right person and we’re sorry.”

Speaking to CNBC last week, Kuleba launched a scathing attack on companies still doing business with Russia, saying that some of the major oil companies may find themselves on the wrong side of history.

“The world will judge them accordingly. History will judge them accordingly,” he told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble.

Shell has already said it intends to exit its joint ventures with the Russian gas giant Gazprom and its affiliated entities, and announced over the weekend that it would allocate the profits of discounted Russian oil to a fund dedicated to humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Van Beurden added on Tuesday that the societal challenges raised by the Russia-Ukraine war “highlight the dilemma between pressuring the Russian government over its atrocities in Ukraine and ensuring stable and secure energy supplies across Europe.”

“Ultimately, it is up to governments to decide what very difficult trade-offs to make during the war in Ukraine. And we will continue to work with them to help manage the potential impacts on the security of energy supplies, particularly in Europe,” he added.