Three mainland oil giants are in talks with Shell to acquire its assets in Russia, according to sources.
CNOOC, China National Petroleum Corporation and Sinopec are in joint discussions with Shell over the company’s 27.5 percent holding in the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas venture after the European firm said it would exit Russian operations following the Ukraine invasion.
The discussions are still at an early stage and there is a a possibility of no deal will be agreed with the firms, informants said.
Meanwhile, Shell is also open to talks with other potential buyers outside of China.
The talks include a potential sale of the stake to one of the Chinese companies, to two of the firms, or to a consortium of all three.
Earlier this month, Shell said its withdrawal from Russia will result in as much as USD5 billion impairments.
Shell and its rivals including Exxon Mobil, took the industry by surprise by signaling plans to exit from Russian assets which worth billions of dollars after war erupted in Ukraine in February.
Meanwhile, CNOOC shot up 44 percent on its debut in the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday, hitting a price ceiling for the day and triggering a 30-minute trading halt. The stock ended up 27.7 percent, a 54.2 percent premium to its Hong Kong-listed shares.
