Shell announces plan to exit Russian oil and gas industry and apologizes for recent purchase of Russian crude oil

Shell plans to close all of its service stations in Russia and withdraw from the oil and gas industry there.

The announcement follows criticism over the oil giant&s purchase of Russian oil last week, and is the latest example of companies severing business ties with Russia.

Shell said in a press release that it would stop buying Russian crude oil on the spot market and not renewing term contracts.

Shell will close its service stations and aviation fuels operations in Russia immediately.

The company said in the release that it will change its crude oil supply chain to remove Russian supplies, but added that this could take weeks to finish and mean reduced throughput at some of its refineries.

Shell apologized in the press release. According to the IEA, the company said it would limit business with Russia, the third-largest oil producer and a major gas exporter to Europe. Shell said in a statement that it made a difficult decision to buy oil from Russia because of concerns over market interruptions and supply security.

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 was not the right one, despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking.

Dymtro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, wasrateful to Shell for taking this moral and responsible step and encouraged other world businesses to follow suit.