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Johannesburg - Royal Dutch Shell has pulled out of Zimbabwe by selling its 50% stake in a fuel joint venture with BP to Engen Petroleum, the South African company 80% owned by Malaysian national oil company Petronas.
Shell is the latest British company to exit investments in Zimbabwe as the British government continues to pressure companies invested in the southern African country to reconsider their position in light of the recent furore over the Zimbabwean presidential race.
Anglo American, the South African resources giant that is listed
in London, has been criticised for pushing ahead with a $400m (R3.2bn) investment in the Unki platinum mine in Zimbabwe despite the political turmoil.
English daily Financial Times said Shell's decision to exit its
Zimbabwean investment was consistent with its strategy of making its downstream business more profitable and focusing on "markets where it can deliver maximum value".
Shell's strategy centres on the upstream oil sector upstream - in the exploration of oil and gas and oil sand projects - where it aims to spend close to 80% of its capital investment this year.
Engen, which has also acquired Shell's downstream business interests in Lesotho, said it was taking a long-term view that the Zimbabwean economy would recover.
"While Zimbabwe's economy has declined sharply over the last decade, it still has good infrastructure which we believe will form the basis of renewed economic growth, once the current political situation is resolved," Engen CEO Rashid Yusof was quoted by South African financial daily Business Day on Thursday as saying.
Engen said it already had seven retail sites in Lesotho and the
acquisition would see the group capture 35% of that country's market.
The acquisitions follow another Engen purchase in Gabon, where it bought Shell's interest in petroleum products and distribution company Pizo.
In December last year, the company also acquired Shell's 60% interest in Shell Democratic Republic of Congo. Engen has a presence in 17 African countries.
Engen spokesperson Tania Landsberg told Business Day that the company acknowledged that the timing of the deal was sensitive.
"We do not get involved in the politics," she said.
Engen had taken a long-term view of the Zimbabwean situation. "We
believe that, in the long term, this is a good deal. We believe that Zimbabwe will recover," she said.
- I-Net Bridge