Management

Industry Areas: Oil and gas exploration and production, refining/marketing and supply of petroleum products, manufacturing and marketing of Chemicals.

Overview

The Royal-Dutch/Shell groups of companies is an Anglo-Dutch group, the holding companies who own the group being The Shell Transport and Trading Company PLC (UK) and Koninklijke Nederland (Royal Dutch Petroleum Company: Netherlands). These two holding companies own 40 per-cent and 60 per-cent respectively of the following 3 subsidiaries, which are themselves holding companies for further operating subsidiaries:

o Shell Petroleum NV (Netherlands)

o Shell Petroleum Company LTD (UK)

o Shell Petroleum Inc. (USA)

The three companies and their operating subsidiaries are managed worldwide by Shell International. Operating subsidiaries are divided into the following divisions:

o Exploration & Production

o Oil products

o Chemicals

o Gas & Power

(Other small divisions include Coal, Hydrogen, Forestry and Renewables)

Over recent years Shell has successfully come to be seen as one of the more progressive companies within its sector. Since it withdrew from the Global Climate Coalition (lobby group) in 1998[1]. Shell has tried hard to brand itself as a caring, green company. Even before that, a concerted public relations campaign had followed the execution (in November 1995) of Nigerian writer and campaigner Ken Saro Wiwa[2]. Shell portrays itself as a good corporate citizen, but like all multinationals and all oil companies Royal-Dutch/Shell continues, behind the greenwash, with many of its old ways.

Market share/importance

The oil sector accounts for about 13.3 per cent of FTSE 100[3] in the UK Royal-Dutch/Shell is one of the largest players in this sector. As such, it is one of the barometer companies of the British economy. Shell's successes and failures are likely to be mirrored in the UK economy as a whole.

o Shell's Crude oil production in 2000 stood at 2,274 thousand barrels per-day[4]

o Shell's Natural gas production available for sale at 8,212 million standard-cubic-feet per-day[5]

o Shell's oil product sales at 5,574 thousand barrels per-day[6]

For comparison:

o BP's crude oil production in 2000 stood at 1,928 thousand barrels per-day,[7]

o Gas production at 7,609 million cubic-feet per-day,[8]

o Marketing sales at 3,756 thousand barrels per-day,[9]

o Exxon-Mobil's liquids production in 2000 stood at 2,600 thousand barrels per-day [10]

o Exxon-Mobil's natural gas production available for sale at 10,300 million cubic-feet per-day [11]

o Exxon-Mobil's petroleum product sales at 8,000 thousand barrels per-day[12]

For a guide to the units used by the oil and gas industry try: www.nepo.go.th/ref/UNIT-OIL.html

Back to top

History

The 'Royal Dutch Company for the Exploitation of Petroleum Wells in the Netherlands East Indies' was registered in the Hague in 1890. The name was abbreviated in 1949 to Royal Dutch Petroleum Company[13].

-*

Shell was first registered in London in 1897 by the brothers Marcus and Sam Samuel as 'The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company, Ltd.' (Now PLC: public limited company)[14].

The first Royal-Dutch/Shell joint operating company: the Asiatic Petroleum Company was established in 1903 and in 1907, Royal-Dutch and Shell merged all of their operations: 60% Royal-Dutch; 40% Shell. Despite merging their interests the companies remain separate: One can buy shares in Royal-Dutch or in Shell-Transport,