Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 19 2022

FSUOGM INVESTMENT FSUOGM

Shell in talks with Lukoil on sale of

Russian filling station network

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S largest independent oil company ($130mn) of debt that the facility has accrued.
Lukoil is in line to obtain the Russian filling sta- “We can confirm the ongoing negotiations
Shell is withdrawing tion network of Shell, Forbes reported on May 5, on the sale of Shell Neft, which owns a retail
from Russia, but needs citing sources. network and lubricants plant, which is located
buyers for its assets. Shell is among the international oil compa- in Torzhok,” Shell’s press office separately told
nies (IOCs) planning to withdraw from Russia Bloomberg. “Our key priority is safety of our
in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, people and operations, maintaining employment
and that divestment will include its 370 filling and complication with the Russian legislation.”
stations in the country. Separately, Shell is understood to be in talks
“Several players were looking for the Shell with China’s largest state oil companies on the
business, including Lukoil,” Forbes reported. sale of its 27.5% stake in the Gazprom-operated
Bloomberg also cited an official at the office of Sakhalin 2 LNG and oil project in the Russian
Shell in Moscow that said that Lukoil was con- Far East, according to the UK’s Telegraph news-
sidered to be the main contender. paper. But the company is still open to accepting
Forbes reported that the buyer of the network bids from buyers outside China, according to
would also take on all staff and continue paying Reuters.
their salaries until the end of the year, under the Besides its interest in Sakhalin 2, Shell’s other
agreed terms of the transaction. The newspaper flagship asset in Russia is a 50% stake in Salym
also said that Shell was considering the divest- Petroleum, a Western Siberian oil joint ven-
ment of a lubricant plant as part of the deal, but ture it has with Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of
the buyer would need to take on the RUB9bn Gazprom..™

POLICY

G7 commit to phasing out

Russian oil

GLOBAL THE G7 group of major economies have vowed or banning the import of Russian oil,” the G7
to reduce reliance on Russian oil imports “in a said. The gradual approach to ending Russian
The move signals timely and orderly fashion,” in an effort to ratchet oil shipments will give member countries the
support for a planned up pressure on Moscow and signal support for a time to secure alternative supplies and avoid
phased embargo by phased embargo proposed by the EU. However, hurting consumers too much through price
the EU. the G7 countries – France, Canada, Germany, spikes, the group said. “This will hit hard at
Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – did not explic- the main artery of Putin’s economy and deny
itly comment on efforts to reduce purchases of him the revenue he needs to fund his war,” it
Russian gas. said.
“We commit to phase out our dependency The G7 also committed to accelerating the
on Russian energy, including by phasing out energy transition away from fossil fuels. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 11•May•2022