Multinational oil and gas company Shell may sell its 950 oil stations in Malaysia to Saudi Aramco in a deal that may be worth up to RM5 billion, according to a report.

Shell is currently the second largest oil station network in Malaysia after Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).

The talks between the London-headquartered Shell and Saudi Arabia state-owned petroleum and natural gas company began in late 2023 and a deal may be finalised in the coming months, according to Reuters, quoting unnamed sources.

Shell declined to comment on the talks but said Malaysia is an important country to the company. Saudi Aramco also declined to comment, the report added.

Shell has as many as 950 stations in Malaysia and 47,000 stations globally, according to its website. Some 800 stations in Malaysia are equipped with the Shell Select stores.

In Malaysia, Shell's upstream international operations is involved in the development and extraction of crude oil and natural gas offshore Sarawak and Sabah. It also converts natural gas to liquid hydrocarbon products and markets the products globally. Shell is also a joint venture partner in two liquefied natural gas (LNG) ventures in Bintulu, Sarawak.

In the downstream sector, its main activity is in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of oil products, namely various grades of fuels, lubricants and bitumen.

In Malaysia, it also makes and sells more than 600 different lubricants for the automotive sector, heavy-duty transport, food processing and power generation.

Shell also runs a business process outsourcing centre called the Shell Business Operations (SBO) in Cyberjaya, Selangor.