Shell completes $66m sale of stake in Malaysian refining business

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday completed the sale of its 51% stake in its refining business in Malaysia for $66.3m.

The FTSE 100 company sold its interest in the Shell Refining Company Berhad, which includes the 125,000 barrel per day refinery in Port Dickson to Malaysia Hengyuan International, a private refiner.

The sale is part of the company’s strategy to “concentrate its global downstream operations in areas where it can be most competitive”. Oil companies are streamlining their operations in the response to the weak price of oil.

Currently the price of Brent crude is hovering around $54 per barrel, more than half its peak price of $115 in June 2014. At the end of February this year it was under $35.

The company maintained that Malaysia is an important market as Shell is “the leading retail fuels and lubricants provider” in the country.

It said it would continue to supply its retail and commercial customers in Malaysia and will honour commercial arrangements through existing supply agreements.

Shares in Shell rose by 0.18% to 2,201.50p at 1306 GMT.