THE TIMES (UK): STOP PRESS: Shell sale pledge (ShellNews.net) 11 Dec 04

Shell Oil, the US unit of the Anglo-Dutch oil group, has pledged to negotiate exclusively with Kelso & Co, the New York investment firm, on the sale of its 66,000 barrels-a-day oil refinery at Bakersfield, California.

Shell said in September that it was in talks with more than 20 potential buyers. The company had planned to close the refinery in October, but a campaign by Bill Lockyer, the California attorney-general, succeeded in getting Shell to delay the closure and instead seek buyers for the plant.