News and information on Shell Plc
How has the culture of Shell changed since the reserve scandals of 2004?
A: Jeroen van der Veer:
Absolutely. The unification of Royal Dutch and Shell Transport in 2005 has simplified our governance structure. Accountabilities are now absolutely clear. We have a single chief executive. We have a single board. And it is a board where there is true dialogue! So were in very good shape on that front.
The fragility of the wind power business was highlighted recently when Shell pulled out of the world's biggest offshore wind farm - the London Array, off Kent - because of spiralling costs associated with planning delays.
In February, its parent company, Royal Dutch Shell, said it would maintain a broad portfolio of renewable resources including biofuels, hydrogen, solar, wind and nuclear power. That came after company chief executive officer Jeroen van der Veer said in January that supplies of easy-to-access oil and natural gas would fail to meet global demand for such after 2015.
A Royal Dutch Shell executive said there's "plenty of oil in the world," but whoever restricts supply -- read Saudi Arabia, Venezuela et al -- are in fact spurring alternatives such as wind, solar and nuclear energy and Canadian tar sands.
There's "plenty of oil in the world," Shell's Scenario Team said today on a Webcast led by Global Business Environment Vice President Jeremy Bentham. "The important moment is actually not a possible peak of oil production;" it's when demand exceeds supply, which may "come well before a peak" in output.
Shell co-owns a wind farm in Lamar and is involved in 11 wind projects in the U.S. and Europe.
This week the shape of the global energy crisis came into its sharpest focus yet. The world needs renewable energy fast, but as BP and Shell announced record profits, they also demonstrated that they are in essence retreating from renewables, perhaps with the exception of biofuels. They intend to focus their record billions on expanding production of what remains of traditional oil and gas, plus tar sands and liquid fuels from coal - ruinous in their effect on the climate.
Following the government’s recent re-embrace of nationalisation, and Shell’s decision to withdraw from the London Array project (Shell ditches renewables stake, May 1), how about bringing Shell’s share into public ownership, financed by an appropriate levy on Shell’s rapidly increasing profits?
Dr Martin Thomas
Faversham, Kent
Shell may have been concerned by the rising price of offshore wind, but it is seriously misguided if it thinks that concentrating its efforts on extracting the remaining fossil fuels is a better bet than renewables in the medium or long term.
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