• Deal expected to close in H1 2024
• Eni, Rosneft have pre-emptive rights
• Prax CEO: deal further expands European presence

FRANKFURT, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Shell (SHEL.L) has agreed to sell its 37.5% stake in the PCK Schwedt oil refinery, which supplies most of Berlin's fuel, to Britain's Prax Group, hoping to draw a line under its co-ownership in an asset majority-owned by Russia's Rosneft.

Shell restarted efforts to sell the stake earlier this year after the German government put the local units of Rosneft (ROSN.MM), which owns 54.17% of the refinery, under trusteeship in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Under the move, Rosneft remains the legal owner of the stake but was stripped of its ability to exert control.

The trusteeship was extended in September due to the lack of progress in talks between Berlin and Rosneft over how an exit by the Russian oil firm from Germany's fourth-largest refinery could be arranged, sources said at the time.

At the same time, Poland was pushing Germany to force Rosneft out to clear the way for investors like Polish refiner PKN Orlen (PKN.WA), which had expressed interest in a controlling stake.

Shell said on Friday it expected the deal with Prax to close in the first half of 2024, pending regulatory clearance and pre-emption rights by co-owners Rosneft and Italy's Eni (ENI.MI), which owns 8.33% in PCK Schwedt.

No financial details were disclosed.

Rosneft was not available for comment. Prax did not reply to a request for comment on whether it might be interested in Rosneft's stake.

"This is another important milestone towards a more focused refining portfolio and the development of high-value integrated sites, such as the Energy & Chemicals Park Rheinland," said Machteld de Haan, Shell's executive vice president for chemicals and products, referring to another project in Germany.

Shell said the planned sale was part of the oil major's efforts to reduce its global network of refineries to core sites that are integrated with its trading hubs and chemicals activities.

Prax, whose founders started out by buying a single petrol station in 1999 when still in their twenties, deals in crude oil, petroleum products and biofuels.

The Shell deal marks its latest expansion in Europe after completing the purchase of the OIL! petrol station network from mineral oil dealer Mabanaft GmbH & Co KG earlier this month.

Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, CEO and co-owner of Prax, said the deal marked another key step in the group's push "to diversify geographically and enhance our European market presence."

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-agrees-sell-stake-germanys-schwedt-refinery-prax-group-2023-12-15/