Czechs close to buying Shell stake in MiRO refinery -paper

The purchase by state-owned MERO should be approved by the Czech government within weeks, the paper said. "We constantly evaluate opportunities to reshape our portfolio, in line with our business strategy," a Shell Germany spokesperson said.

Czech oil pipeline operator MERO is in the final stages of talks to buy Shell Deutschland's 32.5% stake in the Mineraloelraffinerie Oberrhein refinery (MiRO) in Karlsruhe, daily paper Hospodarske Noviny reported without citing sources. The purchase by state-owned MERO should be approved by the Czech government within weeks, the paper said.

"We constantly evaluate opportunities to reshape our portfolio, in line with our business strategy," a Shell Germany spokesperson said. "Commercial sensitivities prevent us from commenting on portfolio activities that we may or may not currently be engaged in."

MERO and the Czech industry and finance ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The MiRO refinery is connected to the TAL pipeline from Italy, which also supplies the Czech Republic and is expected to be the sole Czech source of crude after its Czech-sponsored capacity expansion this year and expected shutdown of the Druzhba pipeline from Russia.

MiRO has processing capacity of 15.8 million metric tons per year. The Czech government has bought gas storage and transit networks while a state-owned company has taken over a network of petrol stations in a drive to increase national energy security since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.