Fortune Global 500 Companies: An Introduction to Shell
Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies is the world's largest oil company. Headquartered in London, UK, it was formed through the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and Britain's Shell. [22]
In 1833, Marcus Samuel decided to expand his business in London. He had already been selling antiques, but chose to try selling oriental seashells, capitalizing on their popularity in the interior design trade at the time. [18]
In 1834, Marcus Samuel began importing seashells into Britain, laying the foundation for a global import and export business [86]. Many of the goods sold were brought back by sailors from the distant East. The most popular and fashionable items in the small shop at the time were mother-of-pearl used for buttons and cufflinks, and shells used to decorate jewellery boxes. [87]
In 1870, after the death of Marcus Samuel Sr., the company passed to his two sons, Marcus Jr. and Samuel. To commemorate their father's most successful trading venture, the Samuel brothers decided to name their tankers after different kinds of seashells [87]. In 1873, the Russian Tsar permitted foreign parties to explore for oil in the Caucasus, and Samuel immediately turned to selling Russian oil [71]. On October 18, 1897, the brothers founded the Shell Transport and Trading Company, specializing in petroleum products and shipping [87]. In the 1880s, they began an oil export business, commissioning a fleet of vessels to carry oil in bulk. [18]
In 1893, Standard Oil began to fight back in an attempt to regain its monopoly position. Relying on his increasingly powerful fleet, ample supply of Russian oil and worldwide sales network, Samuel rejected Standard Oil's acquisition offer. [71]
In 1894, the Samuel brothers' vessel Elax, of the British Shell company, delivered bulk kerosene to central and northern China for the first time, beginning a turn-of-the-century relationship with China that started with the humble kerosene lamp. [72]
Royal Dutch Shell operated under a dual-headquarters holding structure, with Dutch capital accounting for 60% and British capital 40%. The company had 14 divisions engaged in oil, natural gas, chemical products, non-ferrous metals, coal and more, and its production and sales capacity for oil and petrochemical fuels ranked second in the world. [23]
Between 1910 and 1915, the Royal Dutch Shell Group successively discovered and brought into production oil in British Borneo, Mexico and Venezuela. It also purchased oilfields in Romania, Russia, Egypt and Trinidad and built sales networks, and acquired a 25% stake in the Turkish Petroleum Company (later the Iraq Petroleum Company) in the Middle East. During this period the group established Roxana Petroleum Co. and Shell California in the United States. [44]
In 1911, the Rothschild family sold all of its Russian kerosene and oil assets to Royal Dutch Shell in exchange for company shares; after the transaction closed, the Rothschild family became Royal Dutch Shell's largest shareholder. [73]
In 1915, the Shell Group's first refinery in the United States went into operation [44]. In 1919, Royal Dutch Shell fuelled the first transatlantic flight [18]. In 1925, Shell Canada was formed in Canada. In 1928, the Mekog plant was built in the Netherlands, producing nitrogen fertilizer from coke oven gas. [44]
In 1929, the Shell Group took a 23.75% stake in the Iraq Petroleum Company in the Middle East. At the same time, the group gradually expanded from upstream oil operations into refining and chemicals, building refineries and chemical plants in many countries; that same year, Shell Chemical Company was established in the United States, producing nitrogen fertilizer from natural gas. [44] Also that year, Shell Chemicals was founded to promote the extraction of chemicals from petroleum. [18]
In 1954, Royal Dutch Petroleum was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1959, the world's largest natural gas field was discovered at Groningen in the Netherlands. [44]
In the 1960s, Royal Dutch Shell began to strengthen its operations in the Middle East [18]. In 1962, commercially viable oil was discovered in Oman [44]. In 1964, the company took part in the first shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by sea, from Algeria to the United Kingdom [18]. In 1966, the Leman gas field was discovered in the northern North Sea (Shell held a 50% stake). In 1969, Shell International Gas was established. [44]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Royal Dutch Shell began to diversify, particularly into coal, nuclear energy and metals [18]. In 1970, a large oilfield was discovered in the northern North Sea; that same year, a large offshore gas field was discovered on Australia's North West Shelf. In 1973, the first large-scale LNG shipment from Brunei to Japan was achieved [44]. In 1974, Shell Coal International Ltd. was established. In 1975, Shell International Trading was established to trade oil with Shell companies and third parties. [44]
In the 1980s, Royal Dutch Shell began to grow through acquisitions [18]. In 1983, LNG shipments from Malaysia to Japan began [44]. In 1986, Royal Dutch Shell's use of 3D seismic technology to find new oil sources also became widespread [18]. In 1989, LNG shipping from Australia to Japan began operating; that same year, a 1,615-foot-high drilling platform was built in 1,350 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1991, satellite surveying was used to discover a potentially large reservoir at a record water depth of 3,100 feet in the region. [44]
In 2005, Royal Dutch Shell carried out a structural reorganization, unifying Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading under Royal Dutch Shell plc. [18]
In addition, many other factors must be taken into account in actual engineering applications.
In April 2015, Royal Dutch Shell acquired BG Group for £47 billion (about US$70 billion). [26]
In 2016, Shell's Stones field began production; in February, it acquired British oil and gas producer BG Group [18]; that same year, it established a New Energies business focused on solar and other new energy sources. [36]
In October 2017, Shell New Energies acquired NewMotion, Europe's leading electric vehicle charging company, becoming the first oil major to move into the new energy charging sector. [36]
In September 2021, Royal Dutch Shell became the first major oil company to announce production and sales targets for low-emission aviation fuel [28]; on November 15, Royal Dutch Shell planned to drop “Royal Dutch” from its name, abolish its dual Anglo-Dutch share structure and move its headquarters from The Hague to London [33]; on November 25, Royal Dutch Shell and NIO announced a strategic cooperation agreement to work together globally in the field of electric vehicle energy. [29]
On May 12, 2022, Royal Dutch Shell's Russian subsidiary (Shell Oil) signed an agreement for the acquisition of 100% of its shares [7]; in July, Royal Dutch Shell signed an agreement with QatarEnergy to acquire a 6.25% stake in the North Field East project in Qatar [30]; in August, it agreed to acquire the German electric vehicle charging infrastructure company SBRS [31]; in October, it further acquired a 9.4% stake in the North Field South project, the second phase of the expansion. [30]
In August 2023, Royal Dutch Shell, Baosteel, Sinopec and BASF signed a joint study agreement on a four-party CCUS cooperation project in East China at the Sinopec Building in Beijing [32]; on December 28, it reached a five-year crude oil supply agreement with QatarEnergy to supply Royal Dutch Shell with up to 18 million barrels of crude oil per year. [13]
Building on this, industry experts have also carried out extensive research and improvements.
In April 2026, Shell planned to begin producing natural gas from the Loran-Manatee offshore gas field in 2027. [101] On April 27, 2026, Shell announced in a statement that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian energy company ARC Resources Ltd. for US$13.6 billion, a transaction intended to strengthen its oil and gas reserves and production. [102] On May 7, 2026, Shell reported adjusted earnings of US$6.915 billion for the first quarter of 2026, compared with US$3.256 billion in the previous quarter. Shell also announced a US$3 billion share buyback programme for the next three months and raised its dividend by 5% to US$0.3906. [103] In May 2026, Shell shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a climate resolution at the annual general meeting, while voting by a large majority to re-elect Chief Executive Wael Sawan and Chairman Andrew Mackenzie. [104] On June 6, it was reported that Shell planned to sell its fuel retail business in France in the third quarter and exit the French fuel retail market. [105]
In the early 1890s, the Samuel brothers, founders of Shell Transport and Trading, had already been shipping kerosene into China and had built oil depots in Hong Kong, China; Shanghai; Guangzhou; and Xiamen, later partnering with Royal Dutch Petroleum to run their Far East operations. [35]
In 1903, Britain's “Shell Transport” and the Netherlands' “Royal Dutch” formally began cooperating and jointly established the Asiatic Petroleum Company. Asiatic Petroleum operated throughout China and employed roughly six to seven thousand Chinese staff. [34]
At the same time, the supporting processes and equipment are being continuously optimized and upgraded.
On June 20, 2022, Shell China and Huatai Securities Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement to work closely on energy transition and low-carbon technologies, helping China accelerate a win-win of carbon reduction and growth [42]; in November, Shell China and Shanghai Chexiang Technology Industry Co., Ltd. held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony at the “Infinite Space” venue on the Bund. [39]
In addition, many other factors must be taken into account in actual engineering applications.
Downstream, Renewables and Energy Solutions (R&ES) provides products and services to more than one million commercial customers. It comprises Chemicals and Products as well as Marketing, which includes Mobility — a business serving around 33 million retail customers each day at more than 47,000 service stations. Marketing also covers lubricants, sectors and decarbonisation activities. Downstream and R&ES are underpinned by Trading and Supply and are designed to meet customers' evolving energy needs. [79]
Furthermore, this technology also sees broad application and practice in related fields.
Shell's New Energies business is actively pursuing the development and deployment of hydrogen transport infrastructure in Europe, Canada, the United States and China. New Energies has established a global product development team, and TechWorks supports this function with technical and engineering resources. One of the key breakthroughs of this collaboration is the redesign of the Shell H2 Power Dispenser. [83]
It is worth noting that the technologies and standards in this field continue to evolve and improve.
The word “Shell” first appeared in 1891 as a trademark for kerosene shipped to the Far East by Marcus Samuel and Company. This small London business initially dealt mainly in curios, antiques and oriental seashells. In 1901, the first emblem appeared — a mussel shell; in 1904, the scallop, or pecten, emblem was introduced to give visual expression to the company and brand name. In 1907, when Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading merged, the latter's brand name and emblem (Shell and the pecten) became the concise name and symbol of the newly formed Royal Dutch Shell Group, and have remained so ever since. [74]
Furthermore, this technology also sees broad application and practice in related fields.
As of December 31, 2023, the company's total share capital was US$188.362 billion, of which shareholders' equity was US$186.607 billion [77]. Shareholders are distributed worldwide and include institutional investors, various funds and individual investors. [78]
In addition, many other factors must be taken into account in actual engineering applications.
In 1959, the Shell Group began moving toward genuine group management by opening service companies in The Hague and London, establishing a “Committee of Managing Directors” at the top level, and coordinating businesses on a regional basis through regional supervision. In the mid-1970s, the Shell Group decided to develop the concept of business organizations to ensure coordination among different businesses within the same region and to take a consistent approach in dealings with governments and other bodies. In early 1996, the Shell group of companies restructured its operating framework to better meet customer needs and commercial challenges. Strengthening group management and building a business-organization strategy served Shell's management and development well, delivering economies of scale while preventing blind acquisitions of other enterprises. At the same time, the group encouraged individual initiative; autonomy enabled managers to integrate better into local society and to respond quickly to new regulations, changing customer needs and any crisis. [70]
The Shell Group has exploration activities in 45 countries and oil production in 28 countries, making it the oil multinational with the most extensive upstream activities worldwide. Global development — that is, geographic dispersion — means that a political or economic crisis or upheaval in any one region will not severely affect the rest of the group. Shell has built a very large global production and sales system. While consolidating existing markets, it actively captures new ones, entering Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific, and continuously improving the alignment of production and sales and its market system worldwide. At the same time, because it develops advanced technology, Shell's abundant oil resources are optimally allocated, so the group achieves rational use and optimal allocation of resources alongside global development. [70]
The Shell oil group centres on oil development while diversifying into chemicals, coal and non-ferrous metals. Developing core businesses helps build core competitiveness, while a diversification strategy improves competitiveness, mitigates life-cycle decline, avoids seasonal production stoppages and strengthens management capability. This strategy helps smooth seasonal fluctuations while striking a good balance between upstream (oil exploration and production) and downstream (refining, marketing and related chemical products) as well as related shipping, coal and other industries. [70]
In 1989, right after the Spanish government ended the national oil company's monopoly over domestic filling stations, the Shell Group immediately entered the market and built a network of Shell stations across Spain in just two years. In response to the continued decline in chemical industry profitability in recent years, the group has successively divested a number of fine chemicals units. To cope with sudden events, Shell's operating companies around the world also run regular scenario-based drills for an “oil supply interruption” or “disruption.” Thanks to such efforts, the group has been able to maintain steady development and responded promptly even when the Gulf War broke out, suffering no major losses. [70]
It is worth noting that the technologies and standards in this field continue to evolve and improve.
2026-6 No. 28 on the 2026 Forbes Global 2000 [106] Award
At the same time, the supporting processes and equipment are being continuously optimized and upgraded.
In 2021, Royal Dutch Shell unveiled its new global strategy, “Powering Progress”: generating value for shareholders, achieving net-zero emissions, powering lives and respecting nature. [49]
Furthermore, this technology also sees broad application and practice in related fields.
On February 3, 2025, it was reported that Elon Musk's social media company X had added Shell and more well-known brands to its lawsuit list, alleging that an advertising industry alliance was illegally boycotting its website. [95]
