“We do not expect material amounts of investment in those areas going forward,” Linda Cook, head of Shell’s gas and power unit told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.
“They continue to struggle to compete with the other investment opportunities we have in our portfolio,” Cook said of solar and wind.
Shell’s future involvement in renewables will be principally limited to biofuels, which the world’s second-largest non- government-controlled oil company by market value believes is a better fit with its core oil and gas operations.
In the past year, the company said it was refocusing its wind business on the U.S. as it pulled out of European projects.
Shell has around 550 megawatts of wind power capacity but does not break out figures for investment in each renewable energy source.
From 1999-2006 Shell invested around $1.25 billion in green energy, according to Reuters analysis of Shell’s statements. Wind played a large part of that.
One renewables analyst said the decision could reflect the $100/bbl drop in oil prices since July which has eased concerns about energy supply and the economic crisis which has pushed environmental concerns down the agenda.
“There may not be any political pressure on them to invest in renewables at this particular stage,” the analyst, who asked not to be named, said.
The decision may anger environmental groups who, in recent years, have put pressure on Shell over its major investments in Canada’s oil sands, an energy and water intensive business which involves squeezing crude from bitumen-soaked soil.
While Shell’s advertising focuses on its involvement in renewable energy, only around 1 percent of its investments go to these energy sources.
(Additional reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Rupert Winchester)
� Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
