Shell to buy Russian crude and use profits to help Ukraine

Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, said Saturday that it would probably continue to buy Russian crude oil to feed into its refineries and supply customers with gasoline and diesel but would donate any profits to a fund dedicated to “the people of Ukraine.”

Shell had said last Monday that it was pulling out of operations in Russia. It issued a statement on its oil purchases Saturday, a day after an article in the Financial Times revealed that the company had bought a cargo of Russian crude oil.

Shell said in the statement that it understood that governments wanted energy flows to continue from Russia for the time being. The company described the purchase of the oil as “a difficult decision” taken to “avoid disruptions to market supply.”