Posted by John Donovan 12 July 2024
In another classic move from our favorite eco-villain, Shell has gone all-in on liquefied natural gas (LNG), trying to plug the gap left by its exit from Russia in 2022. With a series of deals, Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan is betting big on LNG, all while quietly stepping away from those pesky renewable energy projects.
Filling the Russian Void:
Shell’s new projects in the United Arab Emirates and Trinidad and Tobago, along with snapping up a hefty trading portfolio, are all part of Sawan’s master plan to boost LNG volumes by up to 20 million metric tons per year (mtpa) between 2023 and 2030. These moves help Shell recover from the 2.5 mtpa shortfall after ditching Russia’s Sakhalin LNG project, which led to a 5% dip in liquefaction volumes last year. Because nothing says resilience like swapping one geopolitical mess for another.