Karel Burger Dirven

EBRD | International Advisor | 1st Honorary Consul of Ukraine to the Netherlands

WU (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien)  

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Netherlands

Oct 6, 2025

Following the attack of Ukraine🇺🇦 on a russian oil terminal belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), this consortium, that includes Shell, issued a scandalous statement about Ukraine’s successful attack.

The CPC owns a pipeline that runs from Kazakhstan, through russia, to the Black Sea. The CPC pipeline also transports oil from russian oil fields.
Last year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) described how putin obtained control of this crucial CPC oil pipeline. Oil giants Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, bp & Eni bowed to corrupt russian demands and lost billions. Read my post from last year about russian mafia practices here
👉 https://lnkd.in/dn4aN9av

After a combined naval and aerial drone attack, oil exports through the russian port of Novorossiysk have been halted. The CPC terminal was exporting 1.6 million barrels per day. The attacks on energy facilities are hurting the Kremlin.

The CPC, that includes Shell, issued a statement accusing Ukraine of “the deliberate act of terrorism committed by the Ukraine.”
Read CPC statement here
👉https://lnkd.in/denQGirH

The statement from the CPC, which is completely under Kremlin’s control, deliberately misspelled “the Ukraine” (as a region) instead of the correctly spelled “Ukraine” (as an independent country). This is Kremlin harassment, via CPC and shareholder Shell, to once again reiterate the Kremlin narrative that Ukraine is not an independent country.

This CPC statement aims to stop Ukrainian attacks on this oil terminal. The CPC statement and Shell’s role received press attention thanks to Matthias Pauw on RTL Nederland | Z in Zaken RTLZ. Read here
👉https://lnkd.in/dUU3uYJ3

Ukraine has a clear message to Shell. Either Shell’s CEO, management and shareholders decides to leave russia, or Shell will shut down all their oil & gas installations themselves as long as russia wages war in Ukraine and continues to occupy Ukrainian territories. If Shell doesn’t shut down its russian oil and gas installations, Ukraine will do so. Then Shell won’t have to complain to Ukraine or its insurers about damages later.

My appeal to Shell: leave russia or shut down all your russian activities. Do it now! You are helping our enemy, stop it!

Разом до перемоги, together to victory!
Слава Україні! 🇳🇱🇺🇦

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Comment from :

Rinze van Minnen

I highly value your posts and your work (always), and I am not particularly fond of Shell. But is this post, by now, fair on them? They withdrew from Russia and Russian projects at enormous costs and you state they ‘bowed down’ by doing so, while at the same time you seem to assume they have sufficient skin in the game and control left to be held accountable for this indeed ridiculous propaganda statement.

If Shell hadn’t withdrawn from Russia, and taken the hit, the would have been roasted too and right so. Your criticism now seems to come down to ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ . Shouldn’t there be a palpable difference in the way we approach the ones who were never there, the ones who withdrew and the ones like Nestle and Unilever who are happpily staying in?

Reply from Karel Burger Dirven

After the full scale russian invasion of Ukraine, Shell announced on February 28, 2022, that it wanted to withdraw from its joint ventures in russia with Gazprom and related entities. That’s a justified decision by Shell.
However, Shell hasn’t completely left russia. Shell still collaborates with the russian state and Rosneft. Read this
👉https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/rtl-z/artikel/5417909/shell-cpc-rusland-samenwerking-rosneft-sancties-oorlog

My comment that the oil companies, not just Shell, are bowing down to the mafia-like russian state, refers to the ownership of the CPC pipeline, not to other Shell projects or activities in russia.

Your remark that Nestlé and Unilever are the ones that don’t leave russia at all, is very accurate. We never forget that and they are hold accountable for that.

Note from Scradge :

Unilever in fact fully withdrew from putlerstan in 2024. Nestle are still there doing business as usual. Ditto Mars, P&G and many other big names.

BP left putlerstan in Feb 2022 and took a $25 billion hit in the process.

Sath Kanagarajah

Karel, as an former Exec of BP this is very disappointing behaviour.
I cannot speak for the current actions of these IOC’s as we call them, but this is disgraceful, and I don’t think their shareholders would support such behavior at all.

Suggestion: I WOULD LIKE TO SEE UKRAINE DESTROY EVERY PART OF THIS PIPELINE THAT THE MILITARY CAN ACCESS. Any company anywhere in the world doing business with Russia, BIG OR SMALL, deserves to be SANCTIONED and lose all of its assets completely.

I am ashamed. I am so sorry for this. It is very wrong.

Rob K.

💔 I am deeply moved by how the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), with shareholders like Shell, falsely accuses Ukraine of “terrorist acts.” Even more painful is that CPC deliberately uses the term “The Ukraine”—an old Soviet term that denies the country’s sovereignty. This is no coincidence, but pure intimidation and Kremlin propaganda.

It is incomprehensible and heartbreaking that Western companies—which claim to stand for responsibility and sustainability—allow themselves to be used for this narrative. Through their silence and presence in Russia, they perpetuate a system that destroys lives in Ukraine every day.

My condolences go out to the victims of this war. Solidarity with Ukraine also means that we must call out companies like Shell: choose integrity and humanity over profit. Because whoever identifies with the language of the oppressor contributes to the suffering of the oppressed