Vitol Group agreed to pay about A$2.9 billion ($2.6 billion) forRoyal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s Australian refinery and filling stations as Europe’s largest oil company accelerates asset sales.

The sale includes the Geelong oil refinery south of Melbourne and its 870-site retail business, The Hague-based company’s Australian unit said today in a statement. It doesn’t include the aviation fuel business.

Vitol, the world’s biggest independent oil trader, aims to expand the operations as Australia’s economy grows, the Geneva-based company said in the statement. Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden, who took over this year, is stepping up asset sales after weak margins from refining and unprofitable shale investments in North America cut earnings.

“Australia remains important to Shell, but we are making tough portfolio choices to improve the company’s overall competitiveness,” van Beurden said in the statement.

Shell has also agreed to sell refineries in the U.K., France, Norway, Czech Republic and Germany, according to the statement, and plans to sell more operations in Norway and Italy.

Vitol will continue to sell gasoline under the Shell brand in Australia, the statement said.

The sale follows Vitol’s agreement in 2011 to buy the bulk of Shell’s downstream business in 14 African countries, alongside Africa-focused private equity firm Helios Investment Partners LLP, for about $1 billion. The Swiss company owns refineries in the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and the Netherlands with a refining capacity of about 150,000 barrels a day, its website shows.

Vitol is playing catch-up in Australia to Puma Energy, whose largest shareholder is commodity trader Trafigura Beheer BV. Puma made three acquisitions in Australia last year including a deal to become the country’s largest independent fuel retailer with the purchase of Ausfuel.

Shell’s investments in so-called upstream energy investments won’t be affected, the statement said.

The company plans to invest about $30 billion on natural gas exploration and production in Australia to meet rising Asian demand. The company is a partner in Chevron Corp. (CVX)’s Gorgon natural gas export project off northwest Australia and Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s proposed Browse liquefied natural gas venture. It’s also developing the Prelude floating LNG project.

Shell’s Australian unit said in April last year it would sell the Geelong refinery to focus on larger plants, such as the Pulau Bukom refinery in Singapore. The Geelong facility processes about 120,000 barrels of oil a day, it said.

Australian refiners, including Shell and Caltex Australia Ltd. (CTX), are closing processing operations amid competition from larger facilities in Asia, such as Reliance Industries Ltd.’s Jamnagar plant in India, the world’s biggest refining complex.

Source: Bloomberg