Shell may bid for Unipetrol.(News)(Brief Article)

Shell may bid with Kazakh state-owned Kazmunaigaz for Czech oil and petrochemical holding firm Unipetrol.

The major confirms that it may join forces with Kazmunaigaz to bid for a 62.9pc state-owned stake in Unipetrol in the second round of the firm's privatisation process. It is also in talks with other potential bidding partners but declines to comment further.

There is little obvious benefit for Shell in bidding with Kazmunaigaz. But it may be that a partnership offer would strengthen the major's hand in future talks with the government over the offshore Kashagan project, where Shell and its partners recently incurred a major penalty for pushing back the …