Shell PLC

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Shell moved its headquarters to London and adopted the Shell PLC name in 2022.

© Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images—LightRocket/Getty Images

Shell PLC is a publicly traded global energy and petrochemical company with operations in more than 70 countries and about 85,000 employees. Its businesses include crude oil and natural gas exploration and production, liquefied natural gas (LNG), refining, fuels and lubricants, chemicals, power, and low-carbon energy products and services. Shell is one of the world’s largest suppliers of LNG and also has extensive energy trading and retail operations. The company is headquartered in London.

The companies that eventually formed Shell began as rival organizations in the late 19th century. In 1878 in London, Marcus Samuel (1853–1927) took over his father’s import-export business (which included the import of Oriental shells—hence the later name) and started a sideline of handling consignments of kerosene.

In 1892, he began operating tankers sailing to the Far East and set up oil depots and eventually (1896) oil wells and refineries in Borneo. In 1897, he formed a separate company for his oil interests, the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, Limited, and in the ensuing decade contracted for petroleum supplies in Sumatra, Texas, Russia, Romania, and elsewhere. (Samuel was knighted in 1898 and would become Viscount Bearsted in 1925.)

Meanwhile, in 1890, a group of Dutch bankers, businessmen, and former colonial administrators formed Koninklijke Nederlandse Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Petroleumbronnen in Nederlands-Indië (Royal Dutch Company for Exploitation of Oil Wells in the Dutch Indies). That company developed its first pipeline and refinery in Sumatra in 1892, tapping the local oil fields; after 1896, under the leadership of Hendrik W.A. Deterding (1866–1939), it began the construction of tankers and storage facilities and the creation of a sales organization.

In 1903, Royal Dutch and Shell made their first move toward merger by integrating their distributing and sales operations involving Far East sales and East Indies production. In 1907, the more complete merger resulted in the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which was headed by the two parent companies: NV Koninklijke Nederlandse Petroleum Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Petroleum Company Ltd.) of The Hague, Netherlands, and Shell Transport and Trading Company, PLC, of London. Deterding became general managing director of the group. Below the two parent companies were subsidiary companies that operated worldwide.

By 1913, the two companies together, combined with others, had risen to a prominent position among the world’s oil companies, acquiring producing concerns in such areas as Romania, Russia, Iraq, Egypt, Venezuela, Mexico, California, and Oklahoma and enlarging sales operations in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and North and South America.

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Shell’s Ursa platform produces oil and natural gas in deep water about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans.

© Stuart Conway/Shell

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group continued to expand during the 20th century. Its principal American subsidiary, Shell Oil Company (SOC), was founded in 1922. The group searched for new oil and natural gas reserves from the Middle East and Africa to the North Sea and North America, where it drilled in the Gulf of Mexico and extracted oil sands in Alberta, Canada.

In 2004, Royal Dutch/Shell disclosed that it had seriously overestimated its proven oil and gas reserves. Revised estimates released over the following year lowered the company’s reserve estimates by as much as 40%. The lower figures reduced the value of the company’s stock, prompting shareholders to demand a more open and responsive corporate structure.

In 2005, the century-old Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which had continued to operate under two parent companies, became a single publicly traded company, Royal Dutch Shell PLC. The newly unified company unveiled an ambitious program of investment in exploration and production to rebuild its oil and gas reserves.

In 2015, Royal Dutch Shell agreed to purchase the BG Group, a major producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), to strengthen its position in the global LNG industry. The deal closed in 2016.

In 2021, Royal Dutch Shell proposed simplifying its corporate structure by eliminating its two classes of shares and moving its headquarters to London from The Hague. Shareholders approved the changes later that year. In January 2022, Royal Dutch Shell PLC changed its name to Shell PLC.

In January 2023, Wael Sawan succeeded Ben van Beurden as chief executive officer. Under Sawan, Shell placed greater emphasis on oil, natural gas, and LNG and scaled back some of its renewable and low-carbon energy projects. In 2025, Shell acquired Singapore-based LNG company Pavilion Energy, sold its onshore oil business in Nigeria, and began shipping LNG from the LNG Canada project in British Columbia.

In 2026, Shell agreed to acquire Canadian oil and natural gas producer ARC Resources for $16.4 billion, including debt and leases. The deal, which is expected to close by the end of 2026, would expand Shell’s oil and natural gas production in Canada and increase the company’s supply of natural gas for its LNG operations.