Mariel Kieval Sir Andrew Mackenzie
Chairman of the Board
Shell Global
Shell plc
Shell Centre
London SE1 7NA
United Kingdom
June 2, 2022
Dear Sir Mackenzie:
We are writing to express concern about Shell’s ongoing involvement in Russia.
We were pleased to learn that Shell is ending its equity relationship with Gazprom entities because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We recognize this is an important step, and that Shell is removing itself from numerous significant business relationships in Russia, including at Sakhalin 2 in the Russian Far East.
We are writing to ask whether Shell is also removing itself from its share of the Rosneft-Shell Caspian Venture Ltd, in which Shell holds 49% of shares. Rosneft-Shell Caspian Venture Ltd is a 7.5% shareholder in the CPC pipeline, which transports Kazakhstani and Russian oil to Novorossiysk, where the oil is shipped west via the Yuzhnaya Ozereevka terminal.
According to media reports and the CPC website, the company plans to boost exports by 2.9% in 2022. It stands to reason that Shell and the other shareholders will benefit financially from this boost, as Russia continues to mix its oil into the pipeline. We are aware that the CPC pipeline is not yet sanctioned by western governments but consider it to be out of line with Shell’s statement of excluding itself from the Russian oil market to continue to participate in this venture.
We look forward to receiving your response and to learning that Shell has relinquished all of its ties with Russia while the war in Ukraine is ongoing. Please send your response to Crude Accountability, P.O. Box 423, Linden, VA 22642, USA and kate@nullcrudeaccountability.org.
Sincerely,
Kate Watters
Executive Director, Crude Accountability, USA
Kaisha Atakhanova, Rakhimbek Altynbekovich Abdrakhmanov
Kazakhstan School of Applied Politics and Economic Research
Vadim Nee
Socio-Ecological Fund of Kazakhstan
Lukpan Akhmedyarov
Just Journalism, Kazakhstan