ROBIN PAGNAMENTA: 19 MARCH 2020
It is the biggest company in the FTSE 100 and its largest dividend payer – a cornerstone investment for millions of pension funds around the world.
Royal Dutch Shell has not cut dividend payments to shareholders for more than 70 years but a precipitous plunge in oil prices this month has left chief executive Ben van Beurden facing an agonising choice.
The oil price war launched by Russia and Saudi Arabia on March 9 and fuelled by a collapse in demand linked to coronavirus will damage the entire industry – but some producers are far better positioned than others to survive a lengthy downturn.
With oil prices slumping below $25 per barrel this week for the first time since 2002, of all the giant Western oil companies, Shell is among the least well positioned to cope….
