{"id":857148,"date":"2026-04-14T16:29:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T14:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=857148"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T14:30:09","slug":"middle-east-company-set-to-buy-600-south-african-petrol-stations-for-r16-3-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/857148\/middle-east-company-set-to-buy-600-south-african-petrol-stations-for-r16-3-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East company set to buy 600 South African petrol stations for R16.3 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is reportedly in advanced talks with Shell to sell its retail fuel stations in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported that ADNOC has emerged as the preferred bidder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, after Shell\u2019s talks with Gunvor Group\u2014one of the world\u2019s biggest independent oil traders\u2014fell through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. However, they told Bloomberg that an agreement could be reached as early as this quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acquiring Shell\u2019s 600 retail fuel outlets will give ADNOC  about 10% of the market in Africa\u2019s biggest economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal is likely to be valued at about $1 billion (R16.3 billion). The sale process started in 2024 and has advanced despite the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ADNOC unit also told Bloomberg that the company continually reviews opportunities for growth and declined to comment further. Shell declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Shell declined to comment, it did confirm<\/a> to BusinessTech in March that it is still in the process of selling those assets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShell Downstream South Africa (SDSA) confirms that the divestment process remains underway,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a matter of policy and principle, we do not disclose information related to confidential commercial processes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the sale is ever concluded, it would mark the end of well over a century of Shell petrol stations operating in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1902, Shell opened its doors in South Africa. Back then, the company supplied oil to bring light and heat to the homes in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Shell has grown from being an oil company to being an energy and petrochemical giant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Outlier reported<\/a> that Shell owns about 40,000 fuel service stations worldwide, half of which are in the Americas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 591 retail outlets in South Africa, the thirteenth-most among the 61 countries where the petroleum giant has a presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shell\u2019s departure will have little impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Its refinery in Durban has been inactive since the end of March 2022, when it was decided to suspend operations and spending. A month later, floods severely damaged the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa is not unique. Shell\u2019s divestment from the country is part of a comprehensive review of its global operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shell has sold downstream assets in Australia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, and Namibia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has also been scaling down activity in Malaysia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Colombia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the announcement of their exit, Peter Morgan, CEO of the Liquid Fuels Wholesalers Association of South Africa, said<\/a> that he believes Shell\u2019s departure will have little impact on the domestic fuel industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expert expects that Shell will likely leave behind a smaller sub-brand in the country called Viva Energy and retain a minor stake in the fuel franchise while finding an outside investor to take on majority ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reported with Bloomerg <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A major Middle Eastern oil giant is in advanced talks with Shell to acquire its retail fuel stations in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":857152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874,1],"tags":[25190,1850,2239,853],"class_list":["post-857148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-trending","tag-abu-dhabi-national-oil-company-adnoc","tag-bloomberg","tag-shell","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857148"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857159,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857148\/revisions\/857159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}