No plan to sell off renewable energy ops: Shell’s CEO
LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell is not planning to spin off or part sell its renewable energy businesses as rival BP is considering, and instead wants closer integration of the units with its core hydrocarbon operations, Shell’s chief executive said yesterday.
Jeroen van der Veer said that Shell was building the green energy businesses for the long term, and dismissed concerns about the short-term value of the operations to share prices.
“It’s more basic than that … 50 years from now, we think about one third (of total energy use) will be from renewables,” he said. “You only build big businesses if you expect the profitability there.”
Shell and BP are the leading investors among the international oil majors in renewable energy. Each has invested around $1bn in the past five years.
However, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward said last month that he believed BP’s shares had not benefited from the investments. In an about-face from his predecessor, John Browne, said he was examining ways, including a part flotation, that the value in the operations may be unlocked for shareholders.
However, van der Veer said Shell wanted to go in the opposite direction, bringing operations such as wind and solar power and biofuels—fuels produced from crops—closer to core units.
“We think it is better to integrate it. Like biofuels, we think you should integrate it with oil products (the refining division),” he said.
Gas and power unit boss, Lynda Cook, whose portfolio includes wind energy, reiterated the strategy, saying Shell, like BP used to have a separate division which encompassed alternative and renewable energy but that synergies were seen by integrating it with the core oil and gas business units.
“If it’s something strategic and we have a competitive advantage, we prefer to keep it close,” Cook said.
Meanwhile, Shell Oil yesterday said its president John Hofmeister would retire on June 1.
Tags: hofmeister, john
I liked the fact that there was no sexual innuendo - it was much more amusing and enjoyable than rehashing the same, old, tired, clichéd, juvenile, sex puns that lesser productions would have stooped too all too readily.
Something like the fact that he didn’t go to their churches for 20 years, get married by them, have their children baptized by them, raise his children in their churches, or give them $20,000? Something like that, you mean?
CashmanThis is the second post on how American are getting the shaft yet there are very few diggs.I cannot believe my fellow countrymen have let the con artists and crooks in the Congress give us the shaft regarding energy. We are fast becoming a corporate facist state.
This is exactly what I expected to be happening in John Malkovich’s life when I’m not looking.This article failed to disappoint.
He’s right. We can frown, we can bitch, but it’s still our fault.
Can anyone say PR stunt? It’s the classic try to get on the consumer’s good side while trying to fleece their pockets approach. The article states “He said it is a perfect time for policy makers to keep fuel prices high and force market changes.” which basically means, keep higher prices so we can keep making larger profit margins…
I think this is one of those “Hmm, I’m going to look up this one guy” and when you see a recent photo you can’t help but notice their advanced age and weight gain. Suddenly they aren’t the person you remember them as and you’re subsequently dragged back into reality.
he started making family shit.Wow.. how utterly non fascinating. Worthless reddit.
Exactly. Contrariwise, think of the headlines if he had a spiritual advisor who was level-headed and kind: “McCain advisor ’some kind of hippy freak’, say supporters”
I suppose I’m the only one who thought it was stupid, despite being a Malkovich fan.Just stupid…