Shell plans to sell its Swedish arm, including a refinery in Gothenburg and 400 gas stations.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is in the process of selling assets in Sweden, The Sunday Times reports without citing sources.

The multinational petroleum company is said to have appointed investment bank Lazard to cut its Swedish arm. The selling includes a refinery in Gothenburg, a marketing arm, and its network of more than 400 gas stations.

The report said that Shell hopes to make about $750 million from the sell-off.

"Shell has started to gauge potential interest in the Gothenburg refinery and marketing businesses," company spokeswoman Kirsten Smart told Dow Jones Tuesday. "It is very early days and we are at a very early stage of the process".

The refinery has some 200 employees and the total Swedish organization employs approximately 500 people. The staff was notified Monday that the company is looking at selling the Swedish branch.

The move is part of Shell’s plan to sell 15 percent of its global refining capacity in the next three years as part of its restructuring program aimed at increasing profitability and efficiency, Market Watch said. Shell has been selling refineries in the United States and Europe in recent years.

It's also part of a shift in Shell's global downstream strategy toward larger, more flexible and sophisticated refinery sites.

"Shell's global downstream strategy is driven by several factors, including the reduction in capital expenditure in some markets and a refocusing of the downstream footprint, including a shift in our refining portfolio toward larger-scale, complex, integrated assets," Kirsten Smart told the news wire.