Shell faces a situation in Ukraine where oversight agencies are attempting to apply laws retroactively, Head of Alliance-Holding (the Shell filling station chain in Ukraine) Haldun Guvenir has said.

"We're making all possible [efforts] to observe Ukrainian law… However, sometimes, inspectors come to us, impose fines and threaten to close filling stations… New requirements are passed and they try to apply them to the facilities that you built yesterday. This means that law has retroactive effect," he said at the Petroleum Ukraine 2015 conference organized by the A-95 consulting group (Kyiv).

Guvenir said that in these cases, the company has to apply to the courts, which does not fully resolve the problem.

"We cannot work via the courts permanently, especially via Ukrainian courts," he said.

He said that the illegal fuel sector is flourishing in the country.

"There are gas and filling stations, especially in Kyiv, and all over Ukraine… that are in an awful state. We see hazardous tankers which are banned in Ukrainian law. We see explosions and people are killed. Nine hazardous filling stations in Kyiv were closed, while three of them were re-opened," he said.

Guvenir said that the state should give more attention to fighting the shadow market.

"If the state does not have enough revenue, the best thing to do is reduce illegal operations on the market as much as possible and allow innovation companies to operate and develop," he said.

Guvenir said that at present, his company pays disproportional share excise duties, as some market players avoid paying them.

"According to my unofficial information, Shell has the larger share of excise payments than its market share," he said.