Yahoo! News: Shell not selling Argentina and Chile units: “Royal Dutch/Shell Group has decided not to sell its Argentine or Chilean assets: “Juan Jose Aranguren, president of Shell Argentina, made the disclosure on Sunday less than a week after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his state-owned oil firm PDVSA was in talks to buy Shell Argentina.” (ShellNews.net) 7 Feb 05
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Royal Dutch/Shell Group (LSE: SHEL.L - news - msgs) has decided not to sell its Argentine or Chilean assets, the president of the Argentine unit has said in newspaper interviews, ending months of market speculation.
Juan Jose Aranguren, president of Shell Argentina, made the disclosure on Sunday less than a week after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his state-owned oil firm PDVSA was in talks to buy Shell Argentina.
"Shell is not leaving (Argentina). Obviously our profitability is not great but we believe the business can improve," Aranguren was quoted as saying in the leading newspaper, La Nacion.
"After everything that was said last week, the only important thing is this: The group has decided to stay here and in Chile," he added.
Aranguren made similar remarks in an interview in the Clarin newspaper. Officials at Shell Argentina were not immediately available to comment.
During a brief visit to Argentina, Chavez said last Tuesday that PDVSA was studying a partnership with Brazil's Petrobras and Argentina's fledgling state oil enterprise Enarsa to jointly buy Shell's Argentine unit.
Shell, which has 987 service stations in Argentina, plans to sell $10 billion to $12 billion in non-core assets by 2006. It has already sold some assets in Peru and Venezuela, and there was strong media speculation for months it would also sell service stations in Argentina and Chile.
Aranguren declined to confirm whether the company had discussed a possible deal with PDVSA at some point but said the decision not to sell in the two countries was taken "between 15 and 20 days ago."
He said Shell Argentina did not inform the Argentine government of its plans to stay.
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