Shell to stop Russian oil and gas purchases, apologizes for buying shipment after Ukraine invasion

The Shell logo is displayed in front of a Shell gas station on July 30, 2020 in San Rafael, California. Royal Dutch Shell reported second quarter adjusted earnings of $638 million compared to a net profit of $3.5 billion one year earlier.

Shell apologized for buying a heavily discounted Russian oil and said it was pulling out of all Russian oil.

The company will stop buying Russian crude oil immediately. It said in a statement that it will close its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia.

Shell bought 100,000 metric tons of Russian oil at a record discount due to Moscow's invasion of its neighbor. The purchase did not violate any Western sanctions.

The company faced heavy criticism for the purchase, including from the Foreign Minister of Ukraine.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said Tuesday that the company was aware of its decision 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.

Kuleba spoke to CNBC last week and said that some major oil companies could find themselves on the wrong side of history if they continued to do business with Russia.

The world will judge them. History will judge them according to him.

The profits from the discounted Russian oil will be put into a fund for humanitarian aid for Ukraine, Shell said over the weekend.

The societal challenges thrown up by the Russia-Ukraine war highlight the dilemma between putting pressure on the Russian government over its atrocities in Ukraine and ensuring stable, secure energy supplies across Europe.

It is for governments to decide on the incredibly difficult trade-offs that must be made during the war in Ukraine.