MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell agreed to sell its stake in eastern German refinery PCK Schwedt, the latest in a string of refinery disposals as part of the Anglo-Dutch company's energy transition strategy, reported Reuters.
Shell said in a statement that it will sell its 37.5% share in the refinery for an undisclosed sum to Vienna-based Alcmene GmbH, part of the Liwathon Group, an integrated logistics and investment business headquartered in Estonia.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021, pending approval by cartel authorities and its partners, Russia's Rosneft and Italy's Eni.
The disposal is part of Shell's strategy to reduce its global refinery portfolio to those core locations that could be integrated into future centres of Shell's operations, as it aims to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 at the latest.
As MRC wrote before, in May 2021, Shell announced the sales of its Anacortes, Washington, US refinery as well as the controlling interest in the joint venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery. The company also sold its chemical refinery in Mobile, Alabama.
It also plans to halve the capacity at its Pulau Bukom oil refinery in Singapore. The transaction, to be executed by Shell Deutschland GmbH, would not have any impact on other interests of Shell in Germany, the statement said.
Raw materials inventories will be valued at closing, based on actual volumes and prevailing market prices, said Shell, estimating a sum of between USD150-250 million.
Rosneft holds 54.17% and Eni 8.33% in PCK (Petrolchemisches Kombinat) Schwedt, which lies some 120 kilometres (km) northeast of Berlin. It currently processes 220,000 barrels of oil a day, Shell said.
We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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