Shell to stop buying Russian oil & gas, shut operations in country

London: Energy giant Shell says it will stop buying Russian oil and natural gas as well as shut down its service stations and other operations in the country amid international pressure for companies to sever ties over the invasion of Ukraine.

Shell says in a statement Tuesday that it would withdraw from all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, in a phased manner.

The decision comes just days after Ukraine's foreign minister criticized Shell for continuing to buy Russian oil, lashing out at the company for continuing to do business with President Vladimir Putin's government.

We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking was not the right one and we are sorry," Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said.

The company also plans to end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 Baltic gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany, which it helped finance as a part of a consortium.