MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Shell's subsidiary, Shell Oil, will temporarily suspend operation of its network of gas stations and its lubricants plant in in Russia in the coming days to ensure the company's further sale to a new owner, Sergey Starodubtsev, General Director of the enterprise, announced on Friday.
"We confirm that negotiations are currently underway to sell Shell Oil, which owns a network of gas stations and a lubricants production plant in Torzhok. To ensure the sale of Shell Oil to a new owner, the operation of Shell gas stations and production of lubricants will be temporarily suspended in the coming days," Starodubtsev said was quoted in a Shell statement.
He emphasized that the key priority for Shell remains the safety of employees and production processes, the preservation of jobs and compliance with the requirements of Russian legislation.
Earlier, Shell said in a report that it is currently working on phasing out its gas stations and lubricants production in Russia.
Forbes, citing sources, wrote that Lukoil is showing interest in acquiring Shell gas stations.
On February 28, Shell announced its withdrawal from all joint projects with Russia, including Nord Stream 2 and the Sakhalin-2 LNG project (27.5% of the shares), and on March 8 announced its intention to begin a phase-out of Russian oil products, pipeline gas and LNG.
The company stopped buying Russian crude oil on the spot market and did not renew long-term oil contracts with Russian suppliers.