Shell plans to sell its network of about 60 service stations in France in a deal that could be finalized early next year, French daily Les Echos reported on Tuesday, quoting a communication the UK-based supermajor has shared with the affected employees, suppliers, and concessionaires.
Shell expects to find a buyer for its French service station network in the third quarter of this year, the company told workers’ unions last month, Les Echos reports.
Shell doesn’t own the service stations in France directly, as they are operated under multi-year concession contracts with highway concessionaires including Vinci, Cofiroute, and ASF.
But Shell supplies these stations with fuel and other services in exchange for a fee.
The Shell-branded service stations in France posted an operating profit of about $127.5 million (108.5 million euros) last year, according to Les Echos.
The UK-based supermajor has been working for years under CEO Wael Sawan to streamline operations and boost shareholder returns, with a return to the core business of the group—oil and gas production and trading.
Shell has recently agreed to buy Canada’s ARC Resources in a $16.4-billion deal that will add roughly 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to production and strengthen the supermajor’s position in one of the continent’s most strategic gas corridors.
The acquisition, expected to close in the second half of 2026, is expected to give Shell access to about 2 billion barrels of reserves while bolstering supply feeding LNG Canada, the export project that Shell operates with a 40% stake and increasingly views as a cornerstone of its Asia growth strategy. With ARC’s assets adjoining Shell’s Canadian operations that feed LNG Canada, the deal boosts Shell’s LNG supply position while also replenishing reserves.
The deal also supports Shell’s goal to sustain material liquids production of about 1.4 million barrels per day towards 2030 and beyond.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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