Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc is a major energy company, one of the top four vertically integrated private sector oil/gas companies in the world (along with BP, ExxonMobil, and Total). Shell also has a significant petrochemicals business (Shell Chemicals) and an embryonic renewable energy sector developing wind and solar opportunities. Its corporate headquarters are in The Hague, Netherlands, with legal headquarters in London, United Kingdom.

Businesses

One of the original Seven Sisters, Royal Dutch/Shell is the world's third largest oil company by revenue, and a major player in the petrochemical industry and the solar energy business. Shell has five core businesses: Exploration and Production, Oil Products, Downstream Gas and Power, Chemicals and Renewables, and operates in more than 140 countries across the world.

Related Topics:
Seven Sisters - Solar energy

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Shell?s primary business was, and is, the management of a vertically integrated oil company. The development of technical and commercial expertise in all the stages of this vertical integration from the initial search for oil (exploration) through its harvesting (production), transportation, refining and finally trading and marketing established the core competencies on which the Group was founded. Similar competencies were required for Natural Gas which has become one of the most important businesses in which Shell is involved and which contributes a significant proportion of the companies? profits. The Chemicals business, involving the production and marketing of a range of hydrocarbon derived chemicals products, was also a logical step downstream from the processing of crude oil in the refinery. Some of the Chemicals diversifications (e.g. Agrichemicals) have now been disposed of following major restructuring to Shell Chemicals over the past ten years, but there is still a large core chemicals business within the company.

Related Topics:
Vertically integrated - Natural Gas - Chemicals - Hydrocarbon - Agrichemicals - Shell Chemicals

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Over the years Shell has occasionally sought to diversify away from its core oil, gas and chemicals businesses. These diversifications have included Nuclear Power (a short lived and costly Joint Venture with Gulf Oil in the USA); Coal (Shell Coal was for a time a significant player in mining and marketing); Metals (Shell acquired the Dutch metals-mining company Billiton in 1970) and Electricity generation (a joint Venture with Bechtel called Intergen). However none of these ventures were seen as successful and all have now been disposed of. In recent years Shell has moved tentatively into alternative Energy with investments in Solar Power; Wind Power; Hydrogen and Forestry. The Forestry business went the way of Nuclear, Coal,Metals and Electricity generation and was disposed of in 2003.

Related Topics:
Nuclear Power - Gulf Oil - Coal - Billiton - Electricity generation - Bechtel - Solar Power - Wind Power - Hydrogen - Forestry

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Texaco

In 2001, Shell purchased about 13,000 Texaco stations and several refineries in the United States to permit Texaco to merge with Chevron Corporation. Shell may exclusively use the Texaco brand in the U.S. through 2004, and non-exclusively through 2006.

Related Topics:
Texaco - Chevron Corporation

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