Often simply referred to as “Shell”, the company Royal Dutch Shell PLC. is a multinational British-Dutch oil and gas company. The company headquarters is located in the Netherlands, while being incorporated within the UK. The Shell company is in the ‘supermajors’ category, and in 2016 was the 6th largest company worldwide. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell was the largest company based within Europe. In addition, in Fortune Global 500 (2013) the company ranked 1st in the ‘worlds largest companies’ list. During 2013, the company’s revenue total about $467 billion GDP (84 percent of total revenues in the Netherlands of $556 billion GPD).
Royal Dutch Shell company has active parts in all sections of the industry, from oil to gas. This includes the exploration, refining, production, transportation, petrochemicals, distribution, trading, marketing, and power generation. In more recent years, Shell has branched into additional areas that include renewable energy such as hydrogen, wind, and biofuel.
Shell is operated in 70 different countries worldwide, producing nearly 3.7 million oil barrels daily with nearly 44,000 filling stations around the world. According to reports at the end of 2014, Shell company had a proven oil reserve of 13.7 billion barrels.
In the United States, the company’s principal subsidiary is called Shell Oil Company, one of the company’s biggest business sectors. Additionally, in Brazil Shell has a 50 percent stake in Raizen due to a joint venture they made with Cosan, the 3rd biggest energy company based in Brazil according to ethanol production and revenues.
History
The Shell company was established in 1907 in the Netherlands using amalgamation of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, and in the United Kingdom under ‘Shell’ Transportation and Trading Company. Between 1907 and 2005 the company had been considered separate, being dual-listed. This meant for business purposes operations were treated as a single partnership, but legal existence were maintained as British and Dutch companies. However, in 2005 the two firms unified as a single company.
In 1929, Shell had started entering the chemical industry for the first time.
In 1970, the Shell company obtained Billiton, a mining company. Although, the company sold it in 1994. Today, it’s part of BHP Billiton. Over the last couple decades, Shell’s exploration and production have been significant aspects of the company’s business.
In 2016, Shell obtained BG Group, moving the company’s status to ‘largest liquefied natural gas producer worldwide’.
The London Stock Exchange has a primary listing for the Shell company, being on the FTSE 100 Index. As of trade closing December 30th, 2016 the market capitalization of the company was £185 billion, making it the largest on the London Stock Exchange and one of the highest capitalizing company’s worldwide. Furthermore, Shell has secondary listings on both the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext Amsterdam.
In 2013, the company’s largest shareholder was Capital Research Global Investors which held 9.85% of shares, followed by BlackRock with 6.89% of shares. The Shell company logo is among the most known commercial symbols worldwide, referred to as the ‘pecten’.
About Shell”. Shell. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
