Shell Plans To Double Gas Stations In Russia

Royal Dutch Shell plans to double the number of its retail gas stations in Russia from the current 227, Sergey Starodubtsev, the chief executive of Shell’s Russian unit, said on Wednesday.

Shell views Russia as one of its priority regions, Russian media quoted Starodubtsev as saying at a press conference. The company does have plans to expand its retail network and plans to double the number of its gas stations in Russia in the near future, according to Starodubtsev.

Apart from the downstream business, Shell is active in Russia with natural gas projects.

The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas supermajor holds a 27.5-percent stake minus one share in the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural (LNG) project, in which Russia’s gas giant Gazprom holds the majority stake of 50 percent plus one share.  Mitsui (12.5 percent) and Mitsubishi (10 percent) hold the remaining stakes.

In June this year, Shell signed a joint venture deal with Gazprom to study the construction and development of another LNG project in Russia—Baltic LNG. The Baltic LNG project entails the construction of an LNG plant with an annual capacity of 10 million tons in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, which is some 110 kilometres (68 miles) west of St. Petersburg.

Under the agreement, the Shell-Gazprom joint venture will secure the funding and carry out the design, construction, and operation of the LNG plant, Gazprom said in a June 3, 2017, press release.

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Last year, Shell and Gazprom expressed their intent to explore the Baltic LNG project possibilities by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for potential cooperation in that project.

This year Shell marks 125 years since it started doing business in Russia.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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