Shell in final talks to sell China LGP facilities

June 2, 2000
Royal Dutch/Shell Group is in the final stages of talks aimed at selling its remaining LPG assets in China as part of its global business restructuring process.


BEIJING�Royal Dutch/Shell Group is in the final stages of talks aimed at selling its remaining LPG assets in China as part of its global business restructuring process.

Shell has seven LPG businesses in China involving a total investment of $70 million. The facilities, which include LPG storage tanks and bottle filling plants, are largely operated by joint ventures between Shell and Chinese firms in coastal cities.

By the end of March, the company had sold five of them. Shell expects to conclude the sale of the last two facilities as early as the third quarter of this year.

The global energy major decided to divest its China LPG business last March, because it is unprofitable to operate in China in accordance with its health, security, and environmental standards.

After the LPG divestitures are completed, Shell will focus its China�s downstream operations on producing and selling lubricants and bitumen and establishing a retail fuel network in major Chinese cities.