Shell talking to Essar for refinery sale, not exclusive

Royal Dutch Shell’s talks with India’s Essar Group on the potential sale of its European refineries were on-going, but not exclusive, Simon Henry, Shell’s chief financial officer said. Shell, which reported a 26% drop in first-quarter profits from its refining business, is looking to sell about 15% of its global oil refining assets. Essar has been interested in buying the company’s Stanlow plant in the U.K. and the Harburg and Heide sites in Germany. Henry said the company still hopes to seal a deal to sell the refineries to Essar, but said there were other interested parties. The interested parties included private equity, national oil companies and players outside Europe but he declined to give names. (April 28, 2010)