Remorseful Shell abandons Russian oil

Shell (SHEL.L) stopped buying Russian crude

Shell (SHEL.L) 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.

Qazet.az reports that while Russian crude and gas has been exempt so far from Western sanctions, oil soared above $139 a barrel on Monday to its highest since July 2008 as the United States and European allies began to consider banning Russian oil imports.

U.S. lawmakers have called for bans but President Joe Biden's administration has only sanctioned Russian oil tankers. Britain and Canada have also barred Russian vessels from landing at their ports in protest at Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

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.