Bloomberg: Shell continues to buy Russian energy resources, hiding behind a scheme

The Anglo-Dutch company Shell Plc, despite its public announcement that it is refusing Russian oil, continues to buy it using the so-called mixing scheme, Report informs citing UNIAN that Bloomberg reports.

It is noted that the essence of the mixing scheme is to buy a barrel of oil, in which only 49.99% is produced in Russia, and 50.01% is supplied from other sources. Shell believes that such cargo is technically not of Russian origin.

“This maneuver is at the heart of a growing and opaque market for blended Russian diesel and other refined products, one of many that oil companies and commodity traders are using to keep Russian energy flowing to Europe while satisfying public opinion demanding an end to subsidies the military machine of Vladimir Putin," the article says.

Blending is a convenient tool for companies to publicly say one thing (phasing out Russian resources) and do another (buy a lot of Russian resources).

In the case of Shell, the company changed the so-called general terms of its contracts to allow for Russian blending.