Operations in shale acreage in eastern Ukraine can no longer continue as planned, the chief executive officer at Royal Dutch Shell said. Shell released strong earnings for second quarter 2014. In a conference call to explain the report, CEO Ben van Beurden said some of the company’s operations in Europe may be influenced by ongoing crises in Ukraine. The European community is trying to diversify an energy sector influenced heavily by Russia. The European market gets about a quarter of its gas needs met by Russia, though most of that runs through the Soviet-era gas transit network in Ukraine. Russia’s role in conflict in eastern Ukraine prompted Western powers to issue harsh sanctions against the Kremlin. Van Beurden said his company wasn’t as vulnerable to those sanctions as other companies, but said the sanctions pressure had changed the game in terms of an investment perspective. In Ukraine itself, the […]