Royal Dutch Shell PLC has agreed to sell its Australian refinery and gas stations to energy trader Vitol Holding BV for 2.9 billion Australian dollars (US$2.6 billion), as the company offloads assets around the globe to protect falling profits. The sale includes Shell’s Geelong refinery in Victoria state and 870 gas stations and comes just a month after it agreed to sell its minority stake in an Australian natural-gas project for US$1.14 billion. “Australia remains important to Shell, but we are making tough portfolio choices to improve the company’s overall competitiveness,” Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said in a statement Friday. The news follows the disclosure Thursday that Shell has sold its downstream business in Italy to Kuwait Petroleum International. Mr. van Beurden, who took the reins at Shell on Jan. 1, is mapping out a more conservative path for the Anglo-Dutch company after a decade of […]