Shell considers pulling out of Zimbabwe
Posted on July 7, 2008 – 11:53 am | by vchris
Shell may pull out of Zimbabwe, July 7, 2008 - 8:36AM , Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell may pull out of operations in Zimbabwe, the Observer newspaper has reported.
The report comes after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last month called for businesses to look carefully at their involvement in the country, riven by violence over the disputed re-election of President Robert Mugabe.
Shell has a shareholding in a small retail joint venture operated by rival BP, the company told the newspaper in a statement. The firms reportedly supply 74 petrol stations in Zimbabwe.
The statement added that it was ”currently reviewing our position”.
An unnamed source at the global firm, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, quoted by the newspaper added that it was ”actively looking for a new solution”.
Firms including supermarket chain Tesco have already said they will stop sourcing products from Zimbabwe while the instability continues.
Brown told the House of Commons in June: ”We do not want to do further damage to the Zimbabwean people, but when businesses are helping the Mugabe regime, they should reconsider their positions.”
Britain, the former colonial power, is the largest foreign investor in Zimbabwe, according to a study by London-based analysts Ethical Investment Research Services quoted by the paper.
Sydney Morning Herald
>> Shell considers pulling out of Zimbabwe
THE OBSERVER, LONDON
Monday, Jul 07, 2008, Page 10
Shell was considering pulling out of Zimbabwe on Saturday night amid claims that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was reserving the distribution of fuel at gasoline pumps for party supporters.
A source at the oil giant said it was looking at a plan to halt activities in the country, which are overseen in a joint deal with BP. One option being canvassed is for Shell to sell its stake to a third party. Meanwhile both the UN Security Council and the EU are drafting tougher sanctions aimed at members of the regime and their families, but probably stopping short of wider economic sanctions that some British politicians and Zimbabweans are calling for.
Shell and BP supply 74 independent gasoline stations in Zimbabwe. Supplies are piped from Mozambique and stored at four oil terminals. Both companies have bitter memories of the hostility they drew during the apartheid era in South Africa and minority rule in Rhodesia.
The political instability since last month’s rigged presidential election was one factor under consideration by Shell, the source said.
“We have withdrawn from countries in the past where the situation was delicate,” he said. “We are actively looking for a new solution.”
In a statement, Shell said: “We have a shareholding in a small retail joint venture which is operated by BP. We are currently reviewing our position.”
BP said it had no plans to withdraw.
Tino Bere, a member of the Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights group, said that fuel imports — controlled by Mugabe loyalists — should be targeted.
“Access to fuel imported by the state is reserved for members of Zanu-PF,” he said. “The majority of people won’t suffer. They can get what they need on the black market.”
A study by London-based Ethical Investment Research Services shows that Britain is the largest foreign investor, with holdings in more than a quarter of the 82 companies that have their parents listed on overseas stock exchanges.
Shell would become the fourth company to pull out of Zimbabwe in the past two weeks. The British supermarket chain Tesco announced last week that it would stop sourcing products from Zimbabwe as long as the political crisis persisted. London Mayor Boris Johnson promised that London transport system’s automatic Oyster payment card supplier EDS would not renew its contract with the Munich-based company Giesecke & Devrient, after it emerged that the company provides banknotes to Zimbabwe’s central bank. The communications company WPP said it would divest its quarter stake in Y&R advertising agency since it emerged that a senior member of the company’s management was advising Mugabe.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has asked companies doing business in Zimbabwe to “reconsider” their position. The Foreign Office said this meant that they should look at board members and shareholders of their subsidiaries to see if regime members were directly benefiting.
Source: Taipei Times
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