Essar Oil today said it is still in talks to buy Royal Dutch Shell's three European refineries, but did not give a timeline for conclusion of the deal.

"We are having discussions with Shell, but these are not exclusive," Essar Group CEO Prashant Ruia told reporters here.

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The exclusivity agreement ended in November last year.

Ruia indicated that talks with Shell had slowed down this year as the group focus was on getting its flagship Essar Energy listed on the London Stock Exchange.

"We are talking to them. I cannot comment further," he said, refusing to give a timeframe for conclusion of the deal.

The Hamburg unit has the capacity to process 107,000 barrels per day of crude, while Heide has a capacity of 83,000 barrels a day. Stanlow, Britain's second-largest refinery, can process 272,000 barrels a day.

Essar is considering buying these three Shell refineries as part of its strategy to have a refining capacity of at least one million barrels per day (bpd) globally.

The company currently operates a 280,000 bpd refinery at Vadinar, in Jamnagar district of Gujarat, and has a 50 per cent stake in a 80,000 bpd refinery at Mombasa in Kenya.

Shell, based in The Hague, is looking to save cash and slash costs in order to fight the global economic downturn that has reduced energy demand and oil prices.

The company hopes to pocket up to 1.5 billion pounds from the sale.

Shell's Stanlow complex, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, produces a sixth of the UK's petrol and is the oil giant's only refinery in Britain, which is being sold along with the two German refineries at Heide and Hamburg.

Libya's National Oil Corp may also be interested in Shell's refineries. .

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