Oil industry giant Shell has defended its decision to purchase Russian crude to avoid disruptions to the market supply. Despite Russia's invasion and bombardment of Ukraine, Shell revealed that the discounted purchase was a “difficult” decision. Additionally, the firm promised to direct its profits from the Russian oil sale towards humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba slammed Shell in a Twitter post on Saturday for privately purchasing oil, asking, “Doesn't Russian oil smell like Ukrainian blood for you?” Although there are no official decisions on Russian oil imports, fear of a record-breaking oil price surge continues to worry Western nations. Officials from Shell confirmed that a purchase of 100,000 metric tons of crude oil was made through Russian flagship oil provider Uralson on Friday, as it has no alternative oil supplies to rely on as of now.
