Brunei_Shell_Petroleum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Royal Dutch Shell Royal Dutch Shell Royal Dutch Shell plc Type Public (LSE: RDSA / RDSB) (NYSE: RDS.A / RDS.B) 1907 Hague, Netherlands Worldwide Jorma J. Ollila (Chairman) Jeroen van der Veer (CEO) Oil and gas Petroleum, natural gas, and other petrochemicals ▲ $ 458.361 billion (2008) ▲ $ 51.091 billion (2008) ▲ $ 26.277 billion (2008) ▲ $ 282.401 billion (2008) ▲ $ 127.285 billion (2008) 102,000 - March 2009 Shell Oil Company Shell Nigeria Shell Canada Shell.com Founded Headquarters Area served Key people Industry Products Revenue Operating income Profit Total assets Total equity Employees Subsidiaries Netherlands, with its registered office in London (Shell Centre).[1] The company’s main business is the exploration for and the production, processing, transportation, and marketing of hydrocarbons (petroleum and natural gas). Shell also has a significant petrochemicals business (Shell Chemicals), and an embryonic renewable energy sector developing wind, hydrogen and solar power opportunities. Shell is incorporated in the UK with its corporate headquarters in The Hague, its tax residence is in Netherlands, and its primary listings on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Amsterdam (only "A" shares are part of the AEX index). Forbes Global 2000 in 2009 ranked Shell the second-largest company in the world, behind General Electric. In 2007, Fortune magazine ranked Shell as the third-largest corporation in the world, behind Wal-Mart and ExxonMobil. Shell operates in over 140 countries. In the United States, its Shell Oil Company subsidiary, headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States, is one of Shell’s largest businesses. History Website Royal Dutch Shell plc, commonly known simply as Shell, is a multinational petroleum company of Dutch and British origins. It is the second largest private sector energy corporation in the world, and one of the six "supermajors" (vertically integrated private sector oil exploration, natural gas, and petroleum product marketing companies). The company’s headquarters are in The Hague, Chart of the major energy companies dubbed "Big Oil" sorted by latest published revenue 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Royal Dutch Shell Group was created in February 1907 when the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company (legal name in Dutch, N.V. Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij) and the "Shell" Transport and Trading Company Ltd of the United Kingdom merged their operations[2] – a move largely driven by the need to compete globally with the then predominant American oil company, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. The terms of the merger gave 60% of the new Group to the Dutch arm and 40% to the British and is now mostly seen as a Dutch company in line with the original ownership. To celebrate its centenary in 2007 Shell launched a scholarship fund.[3] Royal Dutch Petroleum Company was a Dutch company founded in 1890 by Jean Baptiste August Kessler,[2] along with Henri Deterding and Texaco, when a Royal charter was granted by King William III of the Netherlands to a small oil exploration and production company known as "Royal Dutch Company for the Working of Petroleum Wells in the Dutch Indies" (now Indonesia)[4]. The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company (the quotation marks were part of the legal name) was a British company, founded in 1897 by Marcus Samuel and his brother Samuel Samuel.[2] Initially the Company commissioned eight oil tankers for the purposes of transporting oil. In 1919, Shell took control of the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company and in 1921 formed Shell-Mex Limited which marketed products under the "Shell" and "Eagle" brands in the United Kingdom. In 1932, partly in response to the difficult economic conditions of the times, Shell-Mex merged its UK marketing operations with those of British Petroleum to create Shell-Mex and BP Ltd,[5] a company that traded until the brands separated in 1975. In November 2004, following a period of turmoil caused by the revelation that Shell had been overstating its oil reserves, it was announced that the Shell Group would move to a single capital structure, creating a new parent company to be named Royal Dutch Shell plc, with its principal listing on the London Stock Exchange and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and its headquarters and tax residency in The Hague in the Netherlands. The unification was completed on 20 July 2005. Shares were issued at a 60/40 advantage for the shareholders of Royal Dutch in Royal Dutch Shell line with the original ownership of the Shell Group.[6] In November 2007 Shell acquired a majority stake in some gas fields owned by Regal Petroleum in Ukraine.[7] Name and brand A Shell-sponsored Ferrari F60 Formula One motor racing car The name Shell is linked to the Shell Transport and Trading Company.[8] In 1833, the founder’s father, also Marcus Samuel, founded an import business to sell seashells to London collectors. When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea area in 1892, the younger Samuel realized there was potential in exporting lamp oil from the region and commissioned the world’s first purposebuilt oil tanker, the Murex (Latin for a type of snail shell), to enter this market; by 1907 the company had a fleet. Although for several decades the company had a refinery at Shell Haven on the Thames, there is no evidence of this having provided the name. The Shell brand is one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world. Known as the "pecten" after the sea shell Pecten maximus (the giant scallop), on which its design is based, the current version of the brand was designed by Raymond Loewy and introduced in 1971. The yellow and red colours used are thought to relate to the colours of the flag of Spain as Shell built early service stations in the state of California which had strong connections with Spain.[9] The slash was removed from the name "Royal Dutch/Shell" in 2004.[10] Businesses One of the original Seven Sisters, Royal Dutch Shell is the world’s second-largest 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Royal Dutch Shell The upstream provides two thirds of Shell’s revenues private sector oil company by revenue, Europe’s largest energy group and a major player in the petrochemical industry. Core businesses Shell has five core businesses: exploration and production (the "upstream"), gas and power, refining and marketing, chemicals (the "downstream"), and trading and shipping. The company operates in more than 140 countries. Shell’s primary business 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 company 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 company’s profits. While the vertically integrated business model provided significant economies of scale and barriers to entry, there has been much less interdependence recently between the businesses, and each business now seeks to be a self-supporting unit without subsidies from other parts of the company. The oil and gas business is increasingly an assembly of independent and globally managed business segments, each of which must be profitable in its own right. Shell oil depot in Kowloon, Hong Kong The downstream, which now also includes the chemicals business, generates a third of Shell’s profits worldwide and is known its global network of more than 40,000 petrol stations and its 47 oil refineries. Diversification A Shell oil refinery in Martinez, California 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); 3 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia metals (Shell acquired the Dutch metals-mining company Billiton in 1970) and electricity generation (a joint venture with Bechtel called Intergen). None of these ventures were seen as successful and all have now been divested. In the early 2000s Shell moved into alternative energy and there is now an embryonic "Renewables" business that has made 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. In 2006 Shell sold its entire solar business[11] and in 2008, the company withdrew from the London Array which is expected to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm.[12] Shell also is involved in large-scale hydrogen projects. HydrogenForecast.com describes Shell’s approach thus far as consisting of "baby steps", but with an underlying message of "extreme optimism".[13] Royal Dutch Shell Non-executive directors On 4 August 2005, the board of directors announced the appointment of Jorma Ollila, then Chairman and CEO of Nokia, to succeed Aad Jacobs as the company’s non-executive Chairman from 1 June 2006. Ollila is the first Shell Chairman to be neither Dutch nor British. Other non-executive directors include Maarten van den Bergh, Wim Kok, Nina Henderson, Lord Kerr, Adelbert van Roxe, and Christine Morin-Postel. Corporate responsibility and reputation Shell’s compliance to corporate social responsibility also includes its UK and international Shell livewire programmes (www.shelllivewire.org and www.shell-livewire.com). This initiative has over 26 years experience of encouraging young people to start and develop their own businesses in the UK and 26 other countries in the world.[16] Management Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer Executive committee Shell’s executive committee consists of Jeroen van der Veer (CEO), Linda Cook (Executive Director Gas and Power), Malcolm Brinded (Executive Director Exploration and Production), Peter Voser (CFO), and Rob Routs (Executive Director Downstream Oil Products and Chemicals). In March 2007 it was announced that van der Veer’s contract as CEO would be extended to June 2009, some twenty months beyond his normal Shell retirement date of October 2007.[14] On 29 October 2008, it was announced that Voser would succeed to the position of Chief Executive Officer effective 1 July 2009.[15] Shell Research and Technology Centre, Amsterdam Shell has been criticised for its businesses in South Africa and Nigeria, notably in relation to protests of the Ogoni and Nigeria’s 4 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia execution of journalist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who spoke out against what he viewed as Shell’s destruction of his tribe’s homeland.[17] Militants in the delta enjoy widespread support, as about 20 million people still remain in poverty despite the enormous wealth generated in the oil-rich area. Shell is the largest oil producer in Nigeria.[18] In the 1990s, protesters criticized the company’s poor environmental record, particularly the pollution caused by the disposal of the Brent Spar platform in Britain.[19] Shell’s response to the problems of Brent Spar and Nigeria was to launch an internal review, as well as a public relations campaign to persuade stakeholders of its commitment to corporate social responsibility. In response to criticism of its track record on environmental matters Shell published an unequivocal commitment to sustainable development, supported by executive speeches reinforcing this commitment.[20] At the same time Shell Oil (the US subsidiary) was one of the first companies to leave the Global Climate Coalition, a lobby group which had opposed restrictions on greenhouse gases, and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group itself was never a member.[21] Shell Chairman Philip Watts gave a 2003 speech in Houston calling for skeptics to get off the fence and take action "before it is too late".[22] Shell is also a founding member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which Watts led as Chairman in 2002/2003. A Shell tanker spilled oil in Magdalena, Argentina on January 15, 1999. Details about the oil spill can be found at http://www.petroleomagdalena.com. Delivering the annual business lecture hosted by Greenpeace in 2005, Shell chairman Lord Oxburgh said that we must act now on global warming or face a "disaster", and encouraged governments to provide a regulatory framework to encourage the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.[23] Royal Dutch Shell violations of the law or the Shell General Business Principles (SGBP) is of critical importance in protecting our reputation and the value of the Shell brand." Whistleblowers are asked to provide identity details but anonymous reports are also accepted. The Global Helpline operated by Global Compliance, Inc. is available to "customers, suppliers, partners, advisers and employees of Shell".[25] A number of newspapers have commented on an unofficial website used by Shell whistle blowers. On 18 March 2008, The Wall Street Journal described it as a Web site regularly used by Shell whistle blowers".[26] Reuters has described the website as "an unofficial company Web site" which "acts as a conduit for whistleblowers at the company..."[27] Corporate communications Shell whistleblowers Shell has set up a global internet-based facility for whistleblowers to report alleged violations of the law or the Shell general business principles, a voluntary code of ethics pledging transparency, integrity and honesty in all of Shell’s business dealings.[24] The introduction at the global helpline website says "Reporting and addressing suspected Shell Centre building next to the London Eye in London, UK Much of Shell’s advertising concentrated on the embryonic renewable energy business, although renewable energy remains a relatively small business, compared to the hydrocarbon extraction, processing and marketing operations. The corporate advertising 5 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia campaign was (like a similar campaign by BP) described as "greenwash" by some nongovernmental organization critics,[28] but praised by other commentators.[29] In response to questions which focused on the small percentage of its capital investment programme that was directed towards alternative energy Shell said that it would be "pointless" to say exactly how much of capital expenditure was going into renewable energy schemes. Chief executive officer Jeroen van der Veer said that the investment was small, because it would be "throwing money away" to invest in non-commercial alternative energy consumers could not afford.[30] In August 2008, the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Shell had misled the public in an advertisement which claimed that a $10bn oil sands project in Alberta, northern Canada was a "sustainable energy source". The ASA upheld a complaint by the World Wide Fund for Nature about Shell’s advert in the Financial Times, and held that "We considered that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) best practice guidance on environmental claims stated that green claims should not ’be vague or ambiguous, for instance by simply trying to give a good impression about general concern for the environment. Claims should always avoid the vague use of terms such as ’sustainable’, ’green’, ’non-polluting’ and so on." The ruling further stated that "Defra had made that recommendation because, although ’sustainable’ was a widely used term, the lack of a universally agreed definition meant that it was likely to be ambiguous and unclear to consumers. Because we had not seen data that showed how Shell was effectively managing carbon emissions from its oil sands projects in order to limit climate change, we concluded that the ad was misleading"[31] Royal Dutch Shell bogus assets booked by Enron. That is because the oil and gas actually still exists, and Shell still owns them as real, usable assets".[32] The crisis led to the dismissal of the chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors Philip Watts, and prompted a major reorganisation of the Group. Health, safety, and other issues A number of incidents over the years led to criticism of Shell’s health and safety record, including repeated warnings by the UK Health and Safety Executive about the poor state of the company’s North Sea platforms. The company suffered another blow in public relations when problems arose at the massive Sakhalin-II project in Russia and the controversial Corrib Gas Field development in Ireland. Shell’s social investment initiative the Shell Foundation has also run into some controversy. In 2007 Friends of the Earth alleged that the damage caused by Shell’s oil activities to local communities and the wider environment could be assessed at $20 billion.[33] Accusations have also flown about the conduct of Shell in Nigeria[34] Corporate governance Shell service station in Hiroshima, Japan Traditionally, Shell was a heavily decentralised business worldwide (especially in the downstream) with companies in over 100 countries, each of which operated with a high degree of independence. The upstream tended to be far more centralised with much of the technical and financial direction coming from the central offices in The Hague. Nevertheless. there were very large "exploration and production" companies in a small number of major oil and gas production centres such as the United Kingdom (Shell Expro, a Oil reserves In 2004, a disclosure about the overstatement of oil reserves was seen as the most serious crisis encountered in the Group’s nearly 100 years of history. The Economist asked in an article dated 11 March 2004 whether Shell could be seen as "another Enron", but answered its own question with "importantly, Shell’s shifting of reserves (from “proven” to “probable”) simply cannot be compared with the phantom profits and 6 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joint Venture with Exxon), Nigeria, Brunei, and Oman. The downstream business, which in some countries also included oil refining, generally included a retail petrol station network, lubricants manufacture and marketing, industrial fuel and lubricants sales and a host of other product/market sectors such as LPG and bitumen. The practice in Shell was that these businesses were essentially local and that they were best managed by local "operating companies" – often with middle and senior management reinforced by expatriates. In the 1990s, this paradigm began to change, and the independence of operating companies around the world was gradually reduced. Today, virtually all of Shell’s operations in various businesses are much more directly managed from London and The Hague. The autonomy of “operating companies” has been largely removed, as more "global businesses" have been created. Royal Dutch Shell Australia In Australia, retailer Coles Group (now part of Wesfarmers) purchased the rights to the retail business from the existing Shell Australia multi-site franchisees in 2003 for an amount less than A$100 million. The purchase was made was in response to a popular discount fuel offer by rival Woolworths Limited launched some years earlier. Coles Express’ only affiliation with Shell is that Shell is the exclusive supplier of fuel and lubricant products, leases the service station property to Coles, and maintains the presence of the "pecten" and other Shell branding on the price board and other signage. Coles Express sets fuel and shop prices and runs the business, provides convenience and grocery merchandise through its supply chain and distribution network, and directly employs the service station staff. Norway, Sweden and Denmark On 27 August 2007, Royal Dutch Shell and Reitan Group, the owner of the 7-Eleven brand in Scandinavia, announced an agreement to rebrand some 269 service stations across Norway, Sweden and Denmark, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals under the different competition laws in each country.[35] United States and Canada See also Service station near Lost Hills, California Through most of Shell’s history, its business in the United States, Shell Oil Company was substantially independent with its stock ("Shell Oil") being traded on the NYSE and with little direct involvement from the group’s central offices in the running of the American business. Such practice also changed in the 1990s when Shell first bought out the shares in Shell Oil that it did not own and then took a more hands-on approach. In Canada, also previously very independent, Shell has completed its purchase of the shares in Shell Canada that it did not own, to apply the new global business model. • Algae fuel • Lensbury • Shell Guides, a series of guidebooks References [1] "Investor Centre - Investor contacts" (HTML). Shell International B.V.. 2007-06-27. http://www.shell.com/home/ content2/investor-en/contact.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [2] ^ Royal Dutch Shell: History [3] "The Shell Centenary Scholarship Fund" (HTML). Shell Centenary Scholarship Fund. 2007-09-17. http://www.shellscholar.org/. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [4] "History of Shell in Indonesia". PT Shell Indonesia. http://www.shell.com/home/ content2/id-en/about_shell/who_we_are/ history_of_shell_indonesia_0905.html. Retrieved on 25 Nov 2008. 7 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [5] Reference and contact details: GB 1566 SMBP Title:Shell-Mex and BP Archive Dates of Creation: 1900-1975 Held at: BP Archive GB 1566 SMBP [6] Shell shareholders agree merger BBC News, 2005 [7] Shell buys stake in Regal gas fields [8] "About Shell - The history of the Shell logo" (HTML). About Shell. Shell International B.V.. 2007-06-15. http://www.shell.com/home/content/ aboutshell-en/who_we_are/our_history/ history_of_pecten/ history_of_the_pecten_23112006.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [9] Business Superbrands, Editor: Marcel Knobil, Author James Curtis (2000), Superbrands Ltd. ISBN 0-9528153-4-6, p. 93. [10] Royal Dutch Shell Group .com [11] "SolarWorld Acquires Shell’s Solar Business". RenewableEnergyWorld.com. 2006-02-02. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/ rea/news/story?id=42840. Retrieved on 2008-08-18. [12] Shell pulls out of key wind power project, Financial Times, 01 May 2008 [13] Stanley, Dean. "Shell Takes Flexible Approach to Fueling the Future" (HTML). Executive View. Corland Publishing. http://www.hydrogenforecast.com/ ArticleDetails.php?articleID=250. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [14] Executive Directors Contracts of service [15] Shell press release [16] "What is Shell LiveWIRE?" (HTML). Shell LiveWIRE. http://www.shelllivewire.com/new/whatis/. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [17] The My Hero Project - Ken Saro Wiwa [18] CorpWatch : NIGERIA: Shell may pull out of Niger Delta after 17 die in boat raid [19] Brent Spar’s long saga BBC News, 1998 [20] Ek Kia, Tan (2005-04-19) (PDF), Sustainable Development in Shell, http://www.shellchemicals.com/ chemicals/pdf/speeches/ sydney_speech_april_2005.pdf, retrieved on 2007-08-30 [21] ExxonSecrets Factsheet: Global Climate Coalition [22] Macalister, Terry (2003-03-12). "Shell chief delivers global warming warning to Royal Dutch Shell Bush in his own back yard". Special report (Guardian News and Media Limited). http://www.guardian.co.uk/ climatechange/story/ 0,12374,912530,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [23] Shah, Saeed (2005-01-26). "Shell boss warns of global warming ’disaster’". Independent Newspapers UK Limited. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/ mi_qn4158/is_20050126/ai_n9693285. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [24] "Environment and Society - Shell General Business Principles" (HTML). Environment and Society. Shell International B.V.. 2007-05-05. http://www.shell.com/home/ Framework?siteId=envirosocen&FC2=&FC3=/envirosoc-en/html/ iwgen/making_it_happen/ our_commitments_and_standards/ shell_general_business_principles/ %20sgbp_13042007.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [25] Shell [26] Shell addresses output issue The Wall Street Journal, 2008 [27] Shell loses exec on troubled Kazakh project-source Reuters, September 2007 [28] Bruno, Kenny (2002-01-24). "Greenwash Award to Shell for Clouding the Issue" (HTML). Campaigns. CorpWatch. http://www.corpwatch.org/ article.php?id=1348#gwaward. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [29] Gelbspan, Ross. "A modest proposal to stop global warming" (HTML). Energy Features. Sierra Club. http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200105/ globalwarm.asp. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [30] Macalister, Terry (2007-02-02). "Profits up a fifth but Shell emits more CO2 than most countries". Business (Guardian News and Media Limited). http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/ 0,,2004173,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [31] Guardian story, Aug. 13, 2008 [32] ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP .COM The Economist [33] Macalister, Terry (2007-01-31). "Campaigners urge Shell to put profits into clean-up". Business (Guardian News and Media Limited). http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/ 8 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 0,,2002276,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. [34] Curse of the Black Gold [35] Shell International B.V. (2007-08-27). 7-Eleven and Shell join forces at 269 petrol stations. Press release. http://www.shell.com/home/content/ media-en/news_and_library/ press_releases/2007/ shell_scandinavia_08271054.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. Royal Dutch Shell • www.shell-livewire.com - Shell LiveWIRE International Bibliography • "A Century in Oil" by Stephen Howarth [1997] ISBN 0 297 82247 0. A History of The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company. • "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" by Stephen Howarth and others [2007]. ISBN 978 0199298778 • "Seven Sisters" by Anthony Sampson (1981) ISBN 978 0553234695 • "Shell Shock: The secrets and spin of an Oil Giant" by Ian Cummins and John Beasant [2005]. ISBN 1 84018 941 X External links • The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies - Official web site • www.shell-livewire.org - Shell LiveWIRE UK Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dutch_Shell" Categories: Royal Dutch Shell, Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands, Chemical companies of the Netherlands, Chemical companies of the United Kingdom, Oil companies of the Netherlands, Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom, Automotive companies of the United Kingdom, Automotive fuel brands, Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Companies established in 1907, Companies based in London This page was last modified on 18 May 2009, at 19:52 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. 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