By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Shell ADR (NYSE:SHEL) traded 1% higher in premarket Tuesday after the company decided to stop buying any crude or gas from Russia, saying it will withdraw completely from any involvement in the communist country’s hydrocarbons over its invasion of Ukraine.
The company had attracted much flak last week over buying a cargo of Russian crude. Faced with rising criticism then, it went on to commit its profits from any Russian oil purchases into a fund that will go towards humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
“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," Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said.
Shell last week said it would exit all its Russian operations, including the flagship Sakhalin-2 LNG plant in which it holds a 27.5% stake, and which is 50% owned and operated by Russia’s Gazprom (MCX:GAZP).
But it was still one of the few Western companies to have continued buying crude oil from Russia since the conflict in Ukraine escalated.
Shell said it will, “as fast as possible,” change its crude oil supply chain to remove Russian volumes and shut its service stations, and aviation fuels, and lubricants operations in Russia.
The company also plans to end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 Baltic gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany, which it helped fund as a part of a consortium.
Shell joins a growing list of companies shutting or curtailing their operations in the communist country. The list includes rival BP (NYSE:BP), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and Nike (NYSE:NKE).