Shell-Shocked: When Even a Ruthless Hedge Fund Bets Against Big Oil’s Greediest Villain

Ah, Shell—the oil-slicked titan of greed, pollution, and profit-before-planet whose moral compass seems to point straight to the nearest offshore tax haven. You’d think this global goliath of carbon chaos would be comfortably lounging atop its pile of petrodollars. But no, even they aren’t safe from Wall Street’s cold, calculating buzzards. Enter Elliott Management: the hedge fund equivalent of a vulture on steroids, now circling Shell like it’s a wounded gazelle.

Yes, Elliott—Paul Singer’s merciless American juggernaut of “activist investing” (read: financial warfare)—has just shorted Shell to the tune of £850 million. That’s 0.5% of Shell’s stock, making it the biggest short against the FTSE 100 oil giant in nearly a decade. When Elliott smells weakness, it doesn’t just poke the bear. It sells the bear’s fur in advance and sues the forest.

This revelation came straight from filings with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, just as Shell’s ever-visionary CEO, Wael Sawan, announced more cost cuts. Because obviously, nothing screams “21st-century energy leader” like slashing spending while the world burns.

Now, to be clear, Elliott’s move isn’t pure spite. (Although we’d love that.) It’s a hedge. The Florida-based fund recently took a near-5% stake in BP, Shell’s equally oily sibling, and is now shorting Shell (and also TotalEnergies and Repsol) to protect itself from the entire greasy house of cards collapsing. So basically, Elliott is betting that Big Oil will cannibalise itself, and let’s be honest—that’s the first halfway-credible climate solution we’ve heard all week.

Still, the sheer scale of the Shell short is enough to raise eyebrows from Canary Wharf to The Hague. Shell, currently valued at around £170 billion, is now officially being wagered against by a fund famous for suing sovereign nations and shaking down governments. If Elliott smells blood, you can bet your last oil-stained dollar it’s not alone.

Meanwhile, over at BP HQ, CEO Murray Auchincloss is under “mounting pressure” to ditch the company’s flirtation with renewables and embrace the warm, profitable bosom of fossil fuels once again. Just last month, BP’s grand plan to “transition” to green energy was tossed in the bin and replaced with… more oil and gas. Genius. Elliott’s fingerprints were all over that one too.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about morality or climate or ethics or—God forbid—saving the planet. This is about money. Shell, despite its relentless greenwashing campaigns and that smug “Powering Progress” PR guff, exists for one purpose: to make shareholders richer. Shell’s largest backers—BlackRock, Vanguard, you know who you are—keep the beast well-fed and unbothered by the collateral damage.

And now Elliott, with its $73 billion war chest and a reputation for litigation that would make even ExxonMobil blush, is taking a calculated swing. They’re betting that even the kings of pollution might finally be overvalued, overexposed, and ripe for a reckoning.

And who can blame them? Shell’s strategy—cut costs, burn oil, greenwash later—feels like a 1970s business plan stuck in 2025. But maybe that’s the point. In an industry built on extracting maximum value from everything, even its own future, Shell is just being… Shell.

So grab your popcorn (organic, if possible), because when the hedge fund hyenas start gnawing on Big Oil’s ankles, you know the circus is just getting started.

Shell: So Greedy Even Wall Street Is Betting Against Them.

Who knew ethical collapse could be monetised this efficiently?

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