Earlier,Royal Dutch Shell stopped buying oil from Russia and said it would cut links to the country entirely while the United States stepped up its campaign to punish Moscow by banning Russian oil and energy imports.
Moscow has termed the attack a “special military operation” aimed not at occupying territory but at destroying Ukraine’s military capabilities.
Coca-Cola has been operating in Russia for decades.Credit:AP
The West’s moves to isolate Russia economically for attacking its neighbour have hit hard global commodity and energy markets,sending prices soaring and threatening to derail the nascent recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Britain too said it would ban imports of Russian oil but only by gradually phasing them out during 2022 to give businesses time to find alternative sources of supply.
The London Metal Exchange (LME) halted trade in nickel on Tuesday after prices of the metal,a key component in electric vehicle batteries,doubled to more than $100,000 a tonne.
Shell’s decision to abandon Russia comes days after it faced a barrage of criticism for buying Russian oil – a transaction that two weeks ago would have been routine.
“We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel - despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking - was not the right one,and we are sorry,” Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said.
Shell and rivals BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp have all announced plans to sell holdings in Russia and exit the country,leaving France’s TotalEnergies relatively isolated in hanging on to its investments there.
Hybrid delays
Mining group BHP warned the surge in commodity prices could spill over into already-skyrocketing inflation and potentially affect global growth.
Nickel prices soared when China’s Tsingshan Holding Group,one of the world’s top nickel and stainless steel producers,bought large amounts of nickel to reduce its bets that prices would fall,three sources familiar with the matter said.
“We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel - despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking - was not the right one,and we are sorry,“:Ben van Beurden,chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell.Credit:Bloomberg
Tsingshan and the LME declined to comment.
As well as high-grade nickel,the price of other metals used in car production,from aluminium in bodywork to palladium in catalytic converters,has soared,and industry supply chains have been broken.
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Volkswagen AG said it would stop taking orders for numerous plug-in hybrid models from Wednesday,as supply-chain troubles exacerbated the production delays caused by chip shortages.
The carmaker had already halted production in Russia and has also suspended production at several factories in Germany as it has struggled to obtain components.
Orders for the plug-in hybrid versions of Volkswagen’s Golf,Tiguan,Passat,Arteon and Touareg models would be halted until further notice and delivery of already-placed orders might not happen this year,the company said.