Royal Dutch/Shell has decided to waive an option to buy extra shares in top Czech oil refinery Ceska Rafinerska, smoothing out an entry by Polish rival PKN to the Czech market.

Shell is one of three foreign shareholders in Rafinerska, the majority of which is owned by soon-to-be-privatised oil and chemicals group Unipetrol.
Shell said it would keep its existing 16.3 per cent stake in the refinery, which has an annual capacity of around eight million tonnes of crude oil, mostly from Russia.
“We have reviewed our position and decided not to exercise our pre-emption rights,” Shell said.
“We will maintain our 16.33 percent share in Rafinerska. This share is seen as sufficient within our European refinery network to play its role in supplying our existing business and to provide a basis for further growth in the Czech market.”
Under a deal among the shareholders, Unipetrol had to offer its shares in the refinery to the other shareholders after the Czech government agreed to sell Unipetrol to PKN earlier this year.
But Unipetrol is hoping to keep the Rafinerska stake to maintain processing capacity for its petrol station network, which is the market leader in the Czech Republic. Shell’s decision to give up the option helps this aim.
 The remaining two foreign shareholders — Eni’s Agip and ConocoPhillips — have yet to reveal their plan.
Unipetrol could get $235 million if the partners bought all of its 51 per cent of the shares in Rafinerska, a source said.