Shell to open three petrol stations in Armenia in March - Kerobyan

YEREVAN, March 1. /ARKA/. The British –Dutch multinational oil and gas company Shell will open three modern petrol stations in Armenia in March, Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia. .

"We have done quite a lot of work with the company and its franchise. I can say that their arrival was quite difficult given the restrictions, the fact that the high quality fuel will be imported from Europe (Greece)," he said

Kerobyan stressed the importance of global top-500 companies coming to Armenia in the first place.

"These companies, with their know-how, knowledge and resources devoted to R&D, spend twice as much as the entire world, including governments, combined. The arrival of any of these companies in Armenia will mean that high-class specialists are being nurtured in Armenia, that research and development work important for the country is being carried out. That will raise the level of innovations and productivity,' he said.

The minister predicted that in a few years, Shell will compete with local companies, which cannot boast of high efficiency and the latter will have to make a quick transformation, because otherwise they will not be able to withstand the competition.

"Having such a company will change, in general, the field and make other companies in the industry able to compete with Shell," Kerobyan added.

Kerobyan said Shell is not present in Azerbaijan, so the fears of penetration of Azerbaijani fuel to Armenia are groundless.

Shell is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange.

A core component of Big Oil, Shell is the second largest investor-owned oil and gas company in the world by revenue (after ExxonMobil), and among the world's largest companies out of any industry. -0-