Shell warns of $5 billion hit by Russia exit Business

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Shell has given the first indication of the cost of its withdrawal from Russia.

The energy giant, which was forced to apologize for buying Russian oil at a discount last month, said the after-tax impact of shutting down its operations in the country would be between 4 and $5 billion in the first quarter alone.

The company said it was obligated to continue buying from Russia under previously signed contracts, but would no longer buy oil on the so-called spot market.

Shell will also close its gas stations and aviation fuel and lubricants business in Russia.

5 things to start your day

1) Boris Johnson is trying to prepare Britain’s creaky power grid for net zero age A power outage three years ago raised questions about the role of the national grid in managing our electricity infrastructure

2) Facebook turns to ‘Zuck Bucks’ after cryptocurrency failure Meta ponders virtual tokens and loans amid exodus of users from social media platforms

3) EU finance chief compares access to the City to reliance on Russian gas Mairead McGuinness calls for less dependence on London clearinghouses

4) Crispin Odey’s hedge fund makes 50% bet on bonds The financier has long predicted that central banks will reverse quantitative easing and raise rates to tackle soaring inflation

5) Russia braces for first default since Bolshevik Revolution Sanctions force Putin to pay creditors in roubles, risking excluding his country from world markets

What happened overnight

Asian stocks fell on Thursday in the wake of a global selloff as markets spooked by more aggressive noises from U.S. policymakers on the need for monetary policy tightening, which also kept the dollar close. from a two-year high.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.53% and the Japanese Nikkei fell 1.9%.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.26pc and Nasdaq futures fell 0.22pc.

China’s blue chips fell 0.4pc, although Hong Kong’s benchmark remained flat, buoyed by mainland developers after local governments eased restrictions on the property sector.

coming today

• Business : Entain, Robert Walters (commercial update)
• Economy: House prices in Halifax (UK)retail (EU)unemployment benefit claims (WE)