Shell make investment pledge in shake-up
Oil group Shell today pledged to invest $45bn (€36.5bn) and make major disposals in a shake-up of the business following its reserves crisis earlier this year.
Shell said the bulk of the money would be spent over the next three years on its upstream arm, which has struggled since the group cut its reserves by 20% in January.
In an update on strategy today, Shell said it aimed to raise up to $12bn (€9.75bn) by 2006 from selling non-care parts of its operations.
Potential disposals include its share in chemical joint venture Basell, while Shell today revealed an approach from an unnamed group to buy its global distribution and marketing business for liquefied petroleum gas.
Today’s strategy update is designed to reassure investors that Shell can deliver a trading revival in the wake of the reserves crisis which claimed the scalps of three senior executives.
The group last month paid €120m in fines to regulators in the UK and US after investigations found that it violated market rules by cutting its reserves by 4.47 billion barrels.
Chairman Jeroen van der Veer said the group had emerged from some “very tough times” and confirmed that there were no further revisions to its oil and gas stocks.
“Everyone at Shell understands the urgent need for performance and delivery,” he said.
The group pledged to look at acquisitions and keep dividends rising in line with inflation. Moves were also being made to simplify the group, with its downstream businesses of oil products and chemicals united under a single team.
But there was no update on a review of the future corporate structure of the group, which could see its Dutch and British holding companies merged.
The group is currently made up of Royal Dutch, which controls 60%, and Shell Transport and Trading, the UK side controlling the remaining 40%. These two companies have separate stock exchange listings in Amsterdam and London.
