Company Profile
Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, production, and trading of various energy resources worldwide. It operates in five segments: Exploration and Production, Gas and Power, Oil Sands, Oil Products, and Chemicals. The Exploration and Production segment engages in the upstream activities of acquiring, exploring, developing, and producing oil and gas. This segment searches for and recovers oil and natural gas primarily in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Russia, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. As of December 31, 2007, it had proved, developed, and undeveloped reserves of 6,686 million barrels of oil equivalent. The Gas and Power segment liquefies and transports natural gas, and develops natural gas markets and related infrastructure. Its gas to liquids process turns natural gas into cleaner-burning synthetic fuel and other products. This segment also develops wind power to generate electricity and invests in solar power technology. In addition, it licenses coal gasification technology, a cleaner way of turning coal into chemical feedstocks and energy. The Oil Sands segment engages in downstream activities of producing synthetic crude oils for use as refinery feedstocks. It extracts bitumen from oil sands in Alberta, western Canada and converts it to synthetic crude oils. The Oil Products segment turns crude oil and synthetic crude into a range of refined products for domestic, industrial, and transport use. These products include gasoline, diesel, heating oil, aviation fuel, marine fuel, lubricants, and bitumen. This segment also develops biofuels and hydrogen. In addition, it operates a branded fuel retail network of 46,000 service stations worldwide. The Chemicals segment produces petrochemicals for industrial customers. Its products include the raw materials for plastics, coatings, and detergents used in the manufacture of textiles, medical supplies, and computers. Royal Dutch Shell plc is based in The Hague, the Netherlands.
