Chief Executive Officer, Shell Plc, Wael Sawan, has said that cutting oil and gas output would be bad for consumers, echoing a pivot by other major producers toward fossil fuels and energy security.
Europe’s largest energy majors are increasingly echoing the strategies of their less climate-minded American peers and leaning into the petrochemical businesses that drove record profits last year and payouts to their shareholders.
BP Plc, Shell’s closest peer, said last month that it would slow the planned decline in its oil and gas production to guarantee the reliability of energy supply following the disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The company’s shareholders applauded the news by sending BP’s shares up about 17 per cent since the announcement.
The renewed emphasis on fossil fuels follows a year of high and volatile prices after Russia’s invasion disrupted gas supplies and the recovery of economies from the Covid-19 pandemic drove demand for oil.
