Shell pledges Russian oil profits for Ukrainian aid
Shell will donate any profit made on Russian oil purchases to a benevolent fund set up to help humanitarian agencies in Ukraine, the company announced on March 5.
Shell will give over profit from Russian crude barrels that it still purchases due to a lack of alternatives. Ukraine's foreign minister had criticised the Anglo-Dutch major for buying a Russian oil cargo at a record discount on March 4.
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The foreign minister Dymtro Kuleb said in a tweet: "I am told Shell discreetly bought some Russian oil yesterday. One question to @Shell, doesn't Russian oil smell [of] Ukrainian blood for you."
In response, Shell said it was impossible to replace every Russian crude barrel without affecting flows to European oil refineries. "We have acted throughout in accordance with what we have understood was the intent to allow energy flows from Russia for the time being in order to provide security of energy supply," it added in a statement.
The invasion of Ukraine has heavily affected Russian crude exports with Western buyers rejecting cargoes. At present there are no sanctions on purchasing Russian oil, but Reuters estimates around 7mn barrels/day of the country's oil and oil product exports have been disrupted in recent days, as well as 1.2mn b/d shipped from Kazakhstan via Russia. Surgutneftegaz, for example, has been unable to find buyers for 6.5mn oil barrels, sources told Reuters.