Shell Continues to Make Millions on Russian Gas
Shell continues to buy and sell Russian gas despite its promises to withdraw from the Russian market back in March last year after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This was reported by the BBC
Also, according to the international non-governmental organisation Global Witness, in 2022, Shell "earned hundreds of millions from trading Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine".
"Only three companies traded larger volumes of Russian liquefied natural gas, two of them of Russian origin, while only four countries supplied larger volumes to Shell traders in 2022," Global Witness said in its report.
At the same time, it became known that in early spring 2023, a tanker capable of carrying up to 160,000 cubic metres of gas sailed from the Russian Yamal Peninsula, which is located in northern Russia.
This gas was contracted by Shell before the tanker reached its final destination in Hong Kong.
Global Witness analysts, having analysed Kpler's databases, concluded that this is only one of eight gas shipments that Shell purchased from Yamal in 2023.
In March 2022, the British oil and gas company Shell promised to stop trading in cheap Russian minerals: gas, oil and petroleum products.
Initially, Shell's then CEO Ben Var Berden said that oil purchases on the spot market would be suspended within a few weeks. However, later, Shell said that it could not quickly and completely withdraw from the Russian market due to its duty to "help Europe's energy security".
At the same time, according to Global Witness, the majority of gas purchased by Shell in Russia went not to European countries (38%), but to the Middle East and Asia (58%).
According to market experts, in 2022, Russia earned $21 billion from the sale of natural gas. During this period, Shell has become one of the leaders in the export of Russian gas abroad, significantly increasing not only its own profits but also revenues to the Russian budget.
Despite the unprecedented sanctions imposed by the international community and the condemnation of the bloody war started by Russia in Ukraine, the Russian Federation managed to significantly increase funding for the military sector, including the production of all types of weapons and missiles.