102-649: The Brent field was an oil and gas field operated by Shell UK Limited . It was located in 470ft of water, in the East Shetland Basin of the North Sea , 186 kilometres (116 mi) north-east of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands , Scotland. The field was discovered in 1971 with the 211/29-1 well which was drilled by the Shell owned 'Staflo' semi-submersible drilling rig. At the time, this
204-462: A Ferranti Mark 1* , was assembled and used at the Shell laboratory in Amsterdam. In 1970, Shell acquired the mining company Billiton , which it subsequently sold in 1994. In 1989, Shell redesigned a $ 3-billion natural gas platform in the North Sea , raising its height one to two meters, to accommodate an anticipated sea level rise due to global warming . In the 1990s, protesters criticised
306-585: A US$ 20 billion gas project that was to be constructed in the US state of Louisiana . A new CEO Ben van Beurden was appointed in January 2014, prior to the announcement that the corporation's overall performance in 2013 was 38 percent lower than in 2012—the value of Shell's shares fell by 3 percent as a result. Following the sale of the majority of its Australian assets in February 2014, the corporation plans to sell
408-591: A full-scale merger or takeover of either of the two companies. The Dutch company, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij at The Hague , was in charge of production and manufacture. The British Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company was based in London, to direct the transport and storage of the products. In 1912, Royal Dutch Shell purchased the Rothschilds ' Russian oil assets in a stock deal. The Group's production portfolio then consisted of 53 percent from
510-414: A fund that would go towards humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On 8 March, Shell announced that it would stop buying Russian oil and gas and close its service stations in the country. In 2022, the major oil and gas companies, including Shell, reported sharp rises in interim revenues and profits. In fact, this rise in profit for Shell was so sharp, that 2022 was the company's best year, as Shell recorded double
612-684: A further US$ 15 billion worth of assets in the period leading up to 2015, with deals announced in Australia, Brazil and Italy. Shell announced on 8 April 2015 it had agreed to buy BG Group for £47 billion (US$ 70 billion), subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. The acquisition was completed in February 2016, resulting in Shell surpassing Chevron Corporation and becoming the world's second largest non-state oil company. On 7 June 2016, Shell announced that it would build an ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , after spending several years doing an environmental cleanup of
714-632: A gas . ) Oil companies that are publicly listed in the United States typically report their production using the unit multiples Mbbl (one thousand barrels) and MMbbl (one million barrels), derived from the Latin word "mille" and Roman Numeral M, meaning "thousand", which is similar to how the US finance industry commonly refers to one million dollars as $ 1MM. This is different from the SI convention where "M" stands for "mega" representing million, from
816-401: A heavy oil with a density of 934 kg/m (API gravity of 20) might only increase in volume by 0.039%. If physically measuring the density at a new temperature is not possible, then tables of empirical data can be used to accurately predict the change in density. In turn, this allows maximum accuracy when converting between standard barrel and standard cubic metre. The logic above also implies
918-829: A host of other product/market sectors such as LPG and bitumen . The practice in Shell was that these businesses were essentially local and that they were best managed by local "operating companies" – often with middle and senior management reinforced by expatriates . Shell has a long history of motorsport sponsorship, most notably Scuderia Ferrari (1951–1964, 1966–1973 and 1996-present), BRM (1962–1966 and 1968–1972), Scuderia Toro Rosso (2007–2013 and 2016), McLaren (1967–1968 and 1984–1994), Lotus (1968–1971), Ducati Corse (since 1999), Team Penske (2011–present), Hyundai Motorsport (since 2005), AF Corse , Risi Competizione , BMW Motorsport (2015–present with also Pennzoil ) and Dick Johnson Racing ( 1987 - 2004 and 2017 –present). Barrel (unit)#Oil barrel A barrel
1020-464: A loss of $ 21.7 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite reducing its operating expenses by 12%, or $ 4.5 billion, according to a Morningstar analysis cited by Barron's . In November 2021, Shell announced that it is planning to relocate their headquarters to London, abandon its dual share structure, and change its name from Royal Dutch Shell plc to Shell plc. The company's name change
1122-505: A pressure of 9.6 bar . The 14 subsea storage cells had a capacity of 400,000 barrels (64,000 m). Electricity generation was powered by three 12 MW Rolls-Royce Avon gas turbines. The topside accommodation was for 120 people. There were 14 topsides modules and the topsides weight was 34,000 tonnes. The initial design parameters of the Brent installations is summarised in the table. Brent C 4.6 km 24-inch The field supplied oil via
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#17327982057261224-498: A self-supporting unit without subsidies from other parts of the company. Traditionally, Shell was a heavily decentralised business worldwide (especially in the downstream) with companies in over 100 countries, each of which operated with a high degree of independence. The upstream tended to be far more centralised with much of the technical and financial direction coming from the central offices in The Hague . The upstream oil sector
1326-413: A single-unit partnership for business purposes. The terms of the merger gave 60 percent stock ownership of the new group to Royal Dutch, and 40 percent to Shell. Both became holding companies for Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij , containing the production and refining assets, and Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, containing the transport and storage assets. National patriotic sensibilities would not permit
1428-474: A type of snail shell ), to enter this market; by 1907 the company had a fleet. Although for several decades the company had a refinery at Shell Haven on the Thames, there is no evidence of this having provided the name. The Shell logo is one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world. This logo is known as the " pecten " after the sea shell Pecten maximus (the giant scallop ), on which its design
1530-415: A variety of different containers was causing buyer distrust. They decided they needed a standard unit of measure to convince buyers that they were getting a fair volume for their money, and settled on the standard wine tierce , which was two gallons larger than the standard whisky barrel. The Weekly Register , an Oil City, Pennsylvania newspaper, stated on August 31, 1866 that "the oil producers have issued
1632-411: Is 20–60 L , typically a DIN or Euro keg of 50 L. Richard III , King of England from 1483 until 1485, had defined the wine puncheon as a cask holding 84 wine gallons and a wine tierce as holding 42 wine gallons. Custom had made the 42 gallon watertight tierce a standard container for shipping eel, salmon, herring, molasses, wine, whale oil, and many other commodities in
1734-512: Is 6.29287 U.S. barrels per standard cubic metre, despite the uncertainty in converting the volume for crude oil. Regulatory authorities in producing countries set standards for measurement accuracy of produced hydrocarbons, where such measurements affect taxes or royalties to the government. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the measurement accuracy required is ±0.25%. A barrel can technically be used to specify any volume. Since
1836-616: Is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London , England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange . A core component of Big Oil , Shell is the second largest investor-owned oil and gas company in the world by revenue (after ExxonMobil ), and among
1938-517: Is about 456 kW of thermal power and 1 bpd of synthetic crude is about 378 kW (slightly less for light crude, slightly more for heavy crude). The task of converting a standard barrel of oil to a standard cubic metre of oil is complicated by the fact that the latter is defined by the API to mean the amount of oil that, at different reference conditions (101.325 kPa and 15 °C (59.0 °F)), occupies 1 cubic metre. The fact that
2040-512: Is also commonly known as the "exploration and production" sector. Downstream operations, which now also includes the chemicals business, generate the majority of Shell's profits worldwide and is known for its global network of more than 40,000 petrol stations and its various oil refineries . The downstream business, which in some countries also included oil refining , generally included a retail petrol station network, lubricants manufacture and marketing, industrial fuel and lubricants sales, and
2142-482: Is based. The yellow and red colours used are thought to relate to the colours of the flag of Spain , as Shell built early service stations in California , previously a Spanish colony . The current revision of the logo was designed by Raymond Loewy in 1971. The slash was removed from the name "Royal Dutch/Shell" in 2005, concurrent with moves to merge the two legally separate companies (Royal Dutch and Shell) to
SECTION 20
#17327982057262244-427: Is converted to a volume of oil of equivalent enthalpy of combustion. Production and consumption using this analogue is stated in barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). In the case of water-injection wells, in the United States it is common to refer to the injectivity rate in barrels of water per day (bwd). In Canada, it is measured in cubic metres per day (m /d). In general, water injection rates will be stated in
2346-613: Is currently being dismantled and recycled. The legs of the Brent Bravo and Delta platforms remain in place with their GBS subsea storage cells. This will also apply to the Brent Charlie platform when decommissioned. The contents of the GBS storage cells are likely to be residual hydrocarbons and radioactive toxic elements. On 31 July 1979, Dan Air fixed wing aircraft crashed attempting to take off from Sumburgh Airport . The flight
2448-442: Is exported to the US. The nominal conversion factor is 1 cubic metre = 6.2898 oil barrels, but conversion is generally done by custody transfer meters on the border, since the volumes are specified at different temperatures, and the exact conversion factor depends on both density and temperature. Canadian companies operate internally and report to Canadian governments in cubic metres, but often convert to US barrels for
2550-532: Is linked to The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company. In 1833, the founder's father, Marcus Samuel Sr., founded an import business to sell seashells to London collectors. When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea area in 1892, the younger Samuel realised there was potential in exporting lamp oil from the region and commissioned the world's first purpose-built oil tanker , the Murex (Latin for
2652-511: Is not a single conversion between mass and volume. For example, one tonne of heavy distillates might occupy a volume of 6.1 barrels (970 litres ; 256 US gallons ). In contrast, one tonne of crude oil might occupy 6.5 barrels (1,030 litres; 273 US gallons), and one tonne of gasoline will require 7.9 barrels (1,260 litres; 332 US gallons). Overall, the conversion is usually between 6 and 8 barrels (954 and 1,270 litres; 252 and 336 US gallons) per tonne. The measurement of an "oil barrel" originated in
2754-470: Is obsolescent, increasingly superseded by SI units . As a result, the meaning of corresponding words and related concepts (vat, cask, keg etc.) in other languages often refers to a physical container rather than a known measure. In the international oil market context, however, prices in United States dollars per barrel are commonly used, and the term is variously translated, often to derivations of
2856-431: Is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels , fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel ), oil barrels , and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units are roughly double the volumes of others; volumes in common use range approximately from 100 to 200 litres (22 to 44 imp gal; 26 to 53 US gal). In many connections
2958-487: Is the amount of oil that would occupy a volume of exactly 1 barrel (158.99 L) at reference temperature and pressure conditions of 60 °F (15.6 °C) and 14.696 psi (1,013.25 hPa ). This standard barrel of oil will occupy a different volume at different pressures and temperatures. A standard barrel in this context is thus not simply a measure of volume, but of volume under specific conditions. ( See also: Standard temperature and pressure#Molar volume of
3060-422: Is total production in a year divided by the days in that year. Likewise, barrels per stream day (BSD or BPSD) is the quantity of oil product produced by a single refining unit during continuous operation for 24 hours. Burning one tonne of light, synthetic, or heavy crude yields 38.51, 39.40, or 40.90 GJ (thermal) respectively (10.70, 10.94, or 11.36 MW·h), so 1 tonne per day of synthetic crude
3162-516: The Argentinian town of Magdalena, Buenos Aires , the Shell tanker Estrella pampeana collided with a German cargo ship , emptying its contents into the lake, polluting the environment, drinkable water, plants and animals. Over a decade after the spill, a referendum held in Magdalena determined the acceptance of a US$ 9.5 million compensatory payout from Shell. Shell denied responsibility for
Brent oilfield - Misplaced Pages Continue
3264-516: The Brent System pipeline to the terminal at Sullom Voe , while gas was piped through the FLAGS pipeline ashore at St Fergus on the north-east coast of Scotland. The production of oil from the field (in 1000s barrels) was: The field underwent a £1.3 billion upgrade project in the mid-1990s, which involved depressurising the entire reservoir and making extensive modifications to three of
3366-816: The East Indies , 29 percent from the Russian Empire , and 17 percent from Romania . During the First World War , Shell was the main supplier of fuel to the British Expeditionary Force . It was also the sole supplier of aviation fuel and supplied 80 percent of the British Army's TNT . It also volunteered all of its shipping to the British Admiralty . The German invasion of Romania in 1916 saw 17% of
3468-671: The Kimmeridge Clay Formation becomes fully mature and releases hydrocarbons . Unusually on a worldwide scale (but common in this basin), the seal or cap rock for the reservoir (which stops the hydrocarbons from migrating further towards the surface) is also the Kimmeridge Clay, or technically the Heather Formation immediately below. The reservoir depth is 2,651 metres (8,698 ft). Production started on 11 November 1976, and on 13 December 1976
3570-518: The Latin / Teutonic root fat (for example vat or Fass ). In other commercial connections, barrel sizes such as beer keg volumes also are standardised in many countries. Some products have a standard weight or volume that constitutes a barrel: Fluid barrels vary depending on what is being measured and where. In the UK a beer barrel is 36 imperial gallons (43 US gal ; 164 L ). In
3672-593: The New York Stock Exchange on 18 November 2005. The shares of the company were issued at a 60/40 advantage for the shareholders of Royal Dutch in line with the original ownership of the Shell Group. During the 2009 Iraqi oil services contracts tender , a consortium led by Shell (45%) and which included Petronas (30%) was awarded a production contract for the "Majnoon field" in the south of Iraq, which contains an estimated 12.6 billion barrels (2.00 × 10 m ) of oil. The "West Qurna 1 field" production contract
3774-471: The Paradise Papers , a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment , revealed that Argentine Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren was revealed to have managed the offshore companies 'Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited' and 'Sol Antilles y Guianas Limited', both subsidiaries of Shell. One is the main bidder for the purchase of diesel oil by the government through
3876-492: The Russian invasion of Ukraine and in the midst of the growing boycott of Russian economy and related divestments , Shell bought a cargo of discounted Russian crude oil. The next day, following criticism from Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba , Shell defended the purchase as a short term necessity, but also announced that it intended to reduce such purchases, and it would put profits from any Russian oil it purchases into
3978-704: The Sultan of Muscat . In 1952, IPC offered financial support to raise an armed force that would assist the Sultan in occupying the interior region of Oman , an area that geologists believed to be rich in oil. This led to the 1954 outbreak of the Jebel Akhdar War in Oman that lasted for more than 5 years. Around 1952, Shell was the first company to purchase and use a computer in the Netherlands. The computer,
4080-454: The world's largest companies out of any industry. Measured by both its own emissions, and the emissions of all the fossil fuels it sells, Shell was the ninth-largest corporate producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the period 1988–2015. Shell was formed in April 1907 through the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company of
4182-510: The 42-US-gallon (159 L) barrels (based on the old English wine measure), the tierce (159 litres) and the 40-US-gallon (150 L) whiskey barrels were used. Also, 45-US-gallon (170 L) barrels were in common use. The 40 gallon whiskey barrel was the most common size used by early oil producers, since they were readily available at the time. Around 1866, early oil producers in Pennsylvania concluded that shipping oil in
Brent oilfield - Misplaced Pages Continue
4284-705: The Alpha, Bravo, and the Charlie platforms were approved in August 2018. The topsides of the Brent Delta platform, weighing approximately 24,200 t, was removed in a single-lift in April 2017 and transported to Hartlepool for recycling. The topside was completely dismantled by February 2019. The topsides of the Brent Bravo platform, weighing approximately 25,000 t, was removed in a single-lift in June 2019. The topside
4386-617: The English colonies by 1700. After the American Revolution in 1776, American merchants continued to use the same size barrels. In the oil industry , one barrel ( unit symbol bbl ) is a unit of volume used for measuring oil defined as exactly 42 US gallons , approximately 159 liters, or 35 imperial gallons . According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), a standard barrel of oil
4488-589: The Greek for "large". Some international companies, particularly those based in Europe, use kb (kilobarrels, one thousand barrels), mb (megabarrels, one million barrels), and gb (gigabarrels, one billion barrels). The lower case m is used to disambiguate it from the capital M used for thousand. In an effort to avoid the ambiguity around Mbbl, the unit kbbl (one thousand barrels) is also sometimes used. The first "b" in "bbl" may have been doubled originally to indicate
4590-604: The Middle Jurassic-age Brent Group that make up the field: Broom, Rannoch, Etive, Ness and Tarbert formations, with each name representing a loch in the Scottish Highlands . Situated in the East Shetland Basin , the Brent is the archetype for many of the fields in the area, consisting of a tilted fault block exposing the eponymous Brent formation , next to bounding faults which allowed migration from deeper adjacent "kitchen" areas where
4692-487: The Petroleum Producers Association in 1872 and by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1882. In modern times, many different types of oil, chemicals, and other products are transported in steel drums . In the United States, these commonly have a capacity of 55 US gallons (208 L) and are referred to as such. They are called 200 litre or 200 kg drums outside
4794-439: The U.S. petroleum industry. Oil wells recover not just oil from the ground, but also natural gas and water. The term barrels of liquid per day (BLPD) refers to the total volume of liquid that is recovered. Similarly, barrels of oil equivalent or BOE is a value that accounts for both oil and natural gas while ignoring any water that is recovered. Other terms are used when discussing only oil. These terms can refer to either
4896-460: The US most fluid barrels (apart from oil) are 31.5 US gallons (26 imp gal; 119 L) (half a hogshead ), but a beer barrel is 31 US gallons (26 imp gal; 117 L). The size of beer kegs in the US is based loosely on fractions of the US beer barrel. When referring to beer barrels or kegs in many countries, the term may be used for the commercial package units independent of actual volume, where common range for professional use
4998-560: The United Kingdom. The combined company rapidly became the leading competitor of the American Standard Oil and by 1920 Shell was the largest producer of oil in the world. Shell first entered the chemicals industry in 1929. Shell was one of the " Seven Sisters " which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s. In 1964, Shell was a partner in the world's first commercial sea transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 1970, Shell acquired
5100-534: The United States, is one of its largest businesses. Shell holds 44% of Raízen , a publicly-listed joint venture with Cosan , which is the third-largest Brazil -based energy company. In addition to the main Shell brand, the company also owns the Jiffy Lube , Pennzoil and Quaker State brands. Shell is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and had a market capitalisation of US$ 199 billion on 15 September 2022,
5202-436: The United States. In the United Kingdom and its former dependencies, a 44-imperial-gallon (200 L) drum was used, even though all those countries now officially use the metric system and the drums are filled to 200 litres. In the United States, the 42 US-gallon size as a unit of measure is largely confined to the oil industry, while different sizes of barrel are used in other industries. Nearly all other countries use
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#17327982057265304-415: The actual nature of the fluids being measured varies along the stream, sometimes qualifiers are used to clarify what is being specified. In the oil field, it is often important to differentiate between rates of production of fluids, which may be a mix of oil and water, and rates of production of the oil itself. If a well is producing 10 MBD (millions of barrels per day) of fluids with a 20% water cut, then
5406-454: The appointment of Jorma Ollila , chairman and CEO of Nokia at the time, to succeed Aad Jacobs as the company's non-executive chairman on 1 June 2006. Ollila is the first Shell chairman to be neither Dutch nor British. Other non-executive directors include Maarten van den Bergh , Wim Kok , Nina Henderson, Lord Kerr , Adelbert van Roxe, and Christine Morin-Postel. Since 3 January 2014, Ben van Beurden has been CEO of Shell. His predecessor
5508-466: The barrel or package, but by the gallon only. An allowance of two gallons will be made on the gauge of each and every 40 gallons in favor of the buyer. And by that means, King Richard III's English wine tierce became the American standard oil barrel. By 1872, the standard oil barrel was firmly established as 42 US-gallons. The 42 gallon standard oil barrel was officially adopted by
5610-563: The benefit of American investors and oil marketers. They generally quote prices in Canadian dollars per cubic metre to other Canadian companies, but use US dollars per barrel in financial reports and press statements, making it appear to the outside world that they operate in barrels. Companies on the European stock exchanges report the mass of oil in tonnes . Since different varieties of petroleum have different densities, however, there
5712-592: The company's environmental record, particularly the possible pollution caused by the proposed disposal of the Brent Spar platform into the North Sea. Despite support from the UK government, Shell reversed the decision under public pressure but maintained that sinking the platform would have been environmentally better. Shell subsequently published an unequivocal commitment to sustainable development , supported by executive speeches reinforcing this commitment. Shell
5814-483: The concrete-base Brent Charlie, built by McAlpine /Sea Tank in Ardyne Point , installed in June 1978. As of 2004, the field was still producing oil through a manifold (all Brent Alpha fluids are produced across to Brent Bravo). A fifth installation, the floating Brent Spar , served as a storage- and tanker-loading buoy and was installed early in the field's construction. The "spar" design of this installation led to
5916-406: The core competencies on which the company was founded. Similar competencies were required for natural gas, which has become one of the most important businesses in which Shell is involved, and which contributes a significant proportion of the company's profits. While the vertically integrated business model provided significant economies of scale and barriers to entry , each business now seeks to be
6018-446: The cost of a planned $ 28bn capital spending programme. Shell invited buyers to submit indicative bids, due by 22 March, with a plan to raise $ 2–3bn from the sale. In June 2010, Shell agreed to acquire all the business of East Resources for a cash consideration of $ 4.7 billion. The transaction included East Resources' tight gas fields. Over the course of 2013, the corporation began the sale of its US shale gas assets and canceled
6120-416: The departure of the chairman Philip Watts . A lawsuit resulted in the payment of $ 450 million to non-American shareholders in 2007. As a result of the scandal, the corporate structure was simplified. Two classes of ordinary shares, A (code RDSA) and B (code RDSB), identical but for the tax treatment of dividends, were issued for the company. In November 2004, following a period of turmoil caused by
6222-454: The early Pennsylvania oil fields . The Drake Well , the first oil well in the US, was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859, and an oil boom followed in the 1860s. When oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of different shapes and sizes. Some of these barrels would originally have been used for other products, such as beer, fish, molasses, or turpentine. Both
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#17327982057266324-490: The end of its economic life. All four platforms were removed from the field between 2017 and 2024 by the Pioneering Spirit , the world's largest vessel by tonnage. Shell initially named all of its UK oil fields after seabirds in alphabetical order by discovery – Auk, Brent, Cormorant, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar and so on. Brent refers to the brent goose , and in turn gave its initials to the geologic subdivisions of
6426-594: The firm operated as a dual-listed company , whereby the British and Dutch companies maintained their legal existence and separate listings but operated as a single-unit partnership. From 2005 to 2022, the company had its headquarters in The Hague, its registered office in London and had two types of shares (A and B). In January 2022, the firm merged the A and B shares, moved its headquarters to London, and changed its legal name to Shell plc . The Royal Dutch Shell Group
6528-667: The first tanker was loaded. The Brent field oil was extracted by four platforms in an irregular SSW-NNE line. The first in place was the concrete-legged "Condeep" Brent Bravo, built by Norwegian Contractors in Stavanger, in August 1975. This was followed by the steel-jacket Brent Alpha built by Redpath Dorman Long in Methil and installed in May 1976; the concrete-legged Brent Delta, again built by Norwegian Contractors in Stavanger, in July 1976; and
6630-428: The following circular": Whereas, It is conceded by all producers of crude petroleum on Oil Creek that the present system of selling crude oil by the barrel, without regard to the size, is injurious to the oil trade, alike to the buyer and seller, as buyers, with an ordinary sized barrel cannot compete with those with large ones. We, therefore, mutually agree and bind ourselves that from this date we will sell no crude by
6732-415: The four Brent platforms. This converted them to low-pressure operation, which unlocked significant quantities of natural gas from the reservoir and extended the field life beyond 2010. The field's peak production capacity reached 504,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in 1982 and it produced a total of approximately three billion barrels of oil equivalent as of 2008. The Brent field decommissioning project
6834-632: The group's worldwide production destroyed. In 1919, Shell took control of the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company and in 1921 formed Shell-Mex Limited, which marketed products under the "Shell" and "Eagle" brands in the United Kingdom. During the Genoa Conference of 1922 Royal Dutch Shell was in negotiations for a monopoly over Soviet oilfields in Baku and Grosny , although the leak of a draft treaty led to breakdown of
6936-400: The jacket footings of Alpha platform, drill cuttings, and the GBS cell contents will not be removed from the field. The GBS subsea storage cells were used to temporarily store crude oil before pumping to tankers or pipeline. The Brent field is being decommissioned in a phased manner. The Brent Delta topside decommissioning programme was approved by the UK government in July 2015, while that for
7038-484: The largest of any company listed on the LSE and the 44th-largest of any company in the world. By 2021 revenues, Shell is the second-largest investor-owned oil company in the world (after ExxonMobil ), the largest company headquartered in the United Kingdom, the second-largest company headquartered in Europe (after Volkswagen ), and the 15th largest company in the world. Until its unification in 2005 as Royal Dutch Shell plc ,
7140-516: The legal name) was a British company, founded in 1897 by Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted , and his brother Samuel Samuel . Their father had owned an antique company in Houndsditch , London, which expanded in 1833 to import and sell seashells, after which the company "Shell" took its name. For various reasons, the new firm operated as a dual-listed company , whereby the merging companies maintained their legal existence but operated as
7242-790: The mining company Billiton , which it subsequently sold in 1994 and now forms part of BHP . In recent decades gas has become an increasingly important part of Shell's business and Shell acquired BG Group in 2016. Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration , production , refining , transport , distribution and marketing , petrochemicals , power generation , and trading . Shell has operations in over 99 countries, produces around 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has around 44,000 service stations worldwide. As of 31 December 2019, Shell had total proved reserves of 11.1 billion barrels (1.76 × 10 m ) of oil equivalent. Shell USA , its principal subsidiary in
7344-464: The name by which it became the best known of the Brent installations (outside the oil industry). The field also included a remote flare, the "Brent Flare", which was used to flare off excess gas before gas handling and export facilities were installed in the field, also used as a vent in winter 1995–96. This unit was decommissioned and removed using a heavy lifting barge in 2005. The topsides for Brent Charlie were designed by Matthew Hall Engineering which
7446-404: The plural (1 bl, 2 bbl), or possibly it was doubled to eliminate any confusion with bl as a symbol for the bale . Some sources assert that "bbl" originated as a symbol for "blue barrels" delivered by Standard Oil in its early days. However, while Ida Tarbell's 1904 Standard Oil Company history acknowledged the "holy blue barrel", the abbreviation "bbl" had been in use well before the 1859 birth of
7548-468: The production of crude oil at an oil well, the conversion of crude oil to other products at an oil refinery , or the overall consumption of oil by a region or country. One common term is barrels per day (BPD, BOPD, bbl/d, bpd, bd, or b/d), where 1 BPD is equivalent to 0.0292 gallons per minute . One BPD also becomes 49.8 tonnes per year. At an oil refinery, production is sometimes reported as barrels per calendar day (b/cd or bcd), which
7650-564: The profits from 2021, and the highest profit in its entire history. In November 2024, Shell won a case in the Hague court of appeal against Friends of the Earth which would have required Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45%, in line with the Paris climate accords . The key trends of Shell are (as at the financial year ending 31 December): On 4 August 2005, the board of directors announced
7752-506: The proposed plant's site. In January 2017, Shell agreed to sell £2.46bn worth of North Sea assets to oil exploration firm Chrysaor. In 2017, Shell sold its oil sands assets to Canadian Natural Resources in exchange of approximately 8.8% stake in that company. In May 2017, it was reported that Shell plans to sell its shares in Canadian Natural Resources fully exiting the oil sands business. On 5 November 2017,
7854-423: The refence conditions are not exactly the same means that an exact conversion is impossible unless the exact expansion coefficient of the crude is known, and this will vary from one crude oil to another. For a light oil with density of 850 kilogram per cubic metre ( API gravity of 35), warming the oil from 59 °F (15 °C) to 60 °F (16 °C) might increase its volume by about 0.047%. Conversely,
7956-405: The revelation that Shell had been overstating its oil reserves , it was announced that the Shell Group would move to a single capital structure, creating a new parent company to be named Royal Dutch Shell plc, with its primary listing on the LSE, a secondary listing on Euronext Amsterdam , its headquarters and tax residency in The Hague , Netherlands and its registered office in London. The company
8058-567: The same level of accuracy in measurements for barrels if there is a 1 °F (0.56 °C) error in measuring the temperature at time of measuring the volume. For ease of trading, communication and financial accounting , international commodity exchanges often set a conversion factor for benchmark crude oils. For instance the conversion factor set by the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for Western Canadian Select (WCS) crude oil traded at Hardisty, Alberta , Canada
8160-426: The same period the previous year. On 30 September 2020, the company said that it would cut up to 9,000 jobs as a result of the economic effects caused by the pandemic and announced a "broad restructuring". In December 2020, Shell forecast another write-down of $ 3.5-4.5 billion for the fourth quarter due to lower oil prices, following $ 16.8 billion of impairment in the second quarter. In February 2021, Shell announced
8262-546: The same units as oil production rates, since the usual objective is to replace the volume of oil produced with a similar volume of water to maintain reservoir pressure. Outside the United States, volumes of oil are usually reported in cubic metres (m ) instead of oil barrels. Cubic metre is the basic volume unit in the International System . In Canada, oil companies measure oil in cubic metres, but convert to barrels on export, since most of Canada's oil production
8364-538: The single legal entity which exists today. On 15 November 2021, Royal Dutch Shell plc announced plans to change its name to Shell plc. Shell is organised into four major business groupings: Shell's primary business is the management of a vertically integrated oil company. The development of technical and commercial expertise in all stages of this vertical integration, from the initial search for oil (exploration) through its harvesting (production), transportation, refining and finally trading and marketing established
8466-426: The spill, but an Argentine court ruled in 2002 that the corporation was responsible. In 2002, Shell acquired Pennzoil-Quaker State through its American division for $ 22 USD per share, or about $ 1.8 billion USD. Through its acquisition of Pennzoil, Shell became a descendant of Standard Oil . With its acquisition, Shell inherited multiple auto part brands including Jiffy Lube , Rain-X , and Fix-a-Flat . The company
8568-585: The state owned CAMMESA (Compañía Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico). On 30 April 2020, Shell announced that it would cut its dividend for the first time since the Second World War , due to the oil price collapse following the reduction in oil demand during the COVID-19 pandemic . Shell stated that their net income adjusted for the cost of supply dropped to US$ 2.9 billion in three months to 31 March. This compared with US$ 5.3 billion in
8670-588: The talks. In 1929, Shell Chemicals was founded. By the end of the 1920s, Shell was the world's leading oil company, producing 11 percent of the world's crude oil supply and owning 10 percent of its tanker tonnage. During the Spanish Civil War the company sold oil to the Nationalist side of Francisco Franco . Located in the north bank of the River Thames in London, Shell Mex House
8772-582: The term drum is used almost interchangeably with barrel . Since medieval times the term barrel as a unit of measure has had various meanings throughout Europe, ranging from about 100 litres to about 1,000 litres. The name was derived in medieval times from the French baril , of unknown origin, but still in use, both in French and as derivations in many other languages such as Italian , Polish , and Spanish . In most countries such usage
8874-803: The value of World War II military production contracts. The 1930s saw Shell's Mexican assets seized by the local government. After the invasion of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in 1940, the head office of the Dutch companies was moved to Curaçao . In 1945, Shell's Danish headquarters in Copenhagen , at the time being used by the Gestapo , was bombed by Royal Air Force De Havilland Mosquitoes in Operation Carthage . In 1937, Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), 23.75 percent owned by Royal Dutch Shell plc, signed an oil concession agreement with
8976-400: The well would also be said to be producing 8,000 barrels of oil a day (bod). In other circumstances, it can be important to include gas in production and consumption figures. Normally, gas amount is measured in standard cubic feet or standard cubic metres (for volume at STP), as well as in kg or Btu (which do not depend on pressure or temperature). But when necessary, such volume
9078-461: Was Peter Voser who became CEO of Shell on 1 July 2009. Following a career at the corporation, in locations such as Australia and Africa, Ann Pickard was appointed as the executive vice president of the Arctic at Royal Dutch Shell, a role that was publicized in an interview with McKinsey & Company in June 2014. In January 2023, Wael Sawan succeeded Ben van Beurden as CEO. The name Shell
9180-559: Was already incorporated in 2002 as Forthdeal Limited , a shelf corporation incorporated by Swift Incorporations Limited and Instant Companies Limited, both based in Bristol. The unification was completed on 20 July 2005 and the original owners delisted their companies from the respective exchanges. On 20 July 2005, the Shell Transport & Trading Company plc was delisted from the LSE, whereas, Royal Dutch Petroleum Company from
9282-419: Was awarded the contract in January 1974. Initially there were facilities for 19 oil production wells, nine water injection wells, six gas injection wells and three spare slots. The production capacity was 150,000 barrels (24,000 m ) per day and 8.5 million standard cubic metres of gas per day. There were three production trains each with four stages of separation with the first stage separators operating at
9384-467: Was awarded to a consortium led by ExxonMobil (60%) and included Shell (15%). In February 2010, Shell and Cosan formed a 50:50 joint-venture, Raízen , comprising all of Cosan's Brazilian ethanol, energy generation, fuel distribution and sugar activities, and all of Shell's Brazilian retail fuel and aviation distribution businesses. In March 2010, Shell announced the sale of some of its assets, including its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business, to meet
9486-490: Was completed in 1931, and was the head office for Shell's marketing activity worldwide. In 1932, partly in response to the difficult economic conditions of the Great Depression , Shell-Mex merged its UK marketing operations with those of BP (British Petroleum) to create Shell-Mex & BP , a company that traded until the brands separated in 1975. Royal Dutch Company ranked 79th among United States corporations in
9588-850: Was created in April 1907 through the amalgamation of two rival companies: the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company ( Dutch : Koninklijke Nederlandse Petroleum Maatschappij ) of the Netherlands and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited of the United Kingdom . It was a move largely driven by the need to compete globally with Standard Oil . The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company was a Dutch company founded in 1890 to develop an oilfield in Pangkalan Brandan , North Sumatra , and initially led by August Kessler , Hugo Loudon, and Henri Deterding . The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company (the quotation marks were part of
9690-438: Was developed with 4 large fixed platforms : Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, which were installed between 1975 and 1978. First oil was achieved in 1976. A total initial investment of £3 billion was required to develop the field, install the infrastructure, drill the wells and bring the oil and gas to shore. Brent was once one of the most productive parts of the UK's offshore assets but has now been fully decommissioned after reaching
9792-634: Was initiated in 2006. Brent Delta was the first platform to cease production in December 2011, while the Brent Alpha and Bravo platforms stopped production in November 2014, Brent Charlie in March 2021. The Brent pipelines decommissioning programme was approved by the UK government in March 2020. As per the decommissioning plan, the gravity-based structures (GBS) of Delta, Charlie, and Bravo platforms,
9894-495: Was notably late in its acquisition as seen by journalists, with Shell seen as streamlining its assets around the same time of other major mergers and acquisitions in the industry, such as BP 's purchase of Amoco and the merger of Exxon and Mobil . In 2004, Shell overstated its oil reserves, resulting in loss of confidence in the group, a £17 million fine by the Financial Services Authority and
9996-774: Was registered in the Companies House on 21 January 2022. In December 2021, Shell pulled out of the Cambo oil field , off the Shetland Islands, claiming that "the economic case for investment in this project is not strong enough at this time, as well as having the potential for delays". The proposed oilfield had been the subject of intense campaigning by environmentalists in the run-up to the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021. On 4 March 2022, during
10098-475: Was returning Brent Field workers to Aberdeen. There were 17 fatalities. The aircraft was an ex Aerolineas Argentinas HS 748 manufactured in 1962. The main cause was found to be a faulty gust lock. The co-pilot was found to have tranquillisers in his system. It is not known if he was in control as he had less than 100 hours on this type of aircraft. On 6 November 1986, a Boeing Vertol BV234 Chinook helicopter G-BWFC crashed on approach to Sumburgh airport. The flight
10200-513: Was returning from the Brent Field. There were 45 fatalities and 2 survivors one of whom was the pilot. The cause was found to be faulty transmission, which caused the twin rotor blades to collide. On 25 July 1990, a Sikorsky S61-N helicopter G-BEWL crashed while attempting to land on Brent Spar. There were 6 fatalities including both pilots. The cause was found to be pilot error and design of the helideck. Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc
10302-499: Was subsequently criticised by the European Commission and five European Union members after deciding to leave part of its decommissioned oil rigs standing in the North Sea. Shell argued that removing them would be too costly and risky. Germany said that the estimated 11,000 tonnes of raw oil and toxins remaining in the rigs would eventually seep into the sea, and called it a 'ticking timebomb'. On 15 January 1999, off
10404-553: Was the world's most northerly well ever drilled. Appraisal of the discovery was not possible until 1972 due to the severe winter weather conditions of the Northern North Sea and the limited capabilities of contemporary drilling rigs. A total of 6 appraisal wells were drilled to allow the full potential of the field to be evaluated. The original oil/condensate-in-place and wet gas-in-place were estimated at 3.8 billion barrels and 7.5 trillion cubic feet respectively. The field
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