Shadia NasrallaLONDON, April 30 (Reuters) – The ongoing transition to low-carbon energy sources may accelerate as economies recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis, the head of oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday.
Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said while Shell was not ringfencing its low-carbon Integrated Gas and New Energies division from spending cuts to weather the crisis, those businesses would be shielded from the worst of the reductions.
“Where possible, we try to spare (New Energies) a little bit and that is basically because we still believe that there is an energy transition underway which may even pick up speed in the recovery phase of this crisis and we want to be well positioned for it,” he said after Shell announced first-quarter results.
Under pressure from a slide in oil prices, Shell slashed its dividend by two-thirds on Thursday having already announced a $5 billion cut to its 2020 investment budget to $20 billion last month.
About 45% of the spending cuts will hit Shell’s upstream – or exploration and production – business, with 30% for downstream which includes the refining and marketing of oil products, van Beurden said.
He said the other 25% in cuts would come from Integrated Gas and New Energies but added that the crisis would not distract the company from its shift to low-carbon energy as it braces for a complete overhaul over the next 30 years.
The head of the world’s energy watchdog, Fatih Birol, told Reuters this week that global efforts to minimise the fallout from the pandemic presented an historic opportunity to scale up the technologies needed to move to cleaner energy.
The European Union, meanwhile, is working on a revised work plan for its climate policies because of the crisis which is set to include new, more ambitious targets for 2030, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
Shell’s low-carbon energy division, which includes wind and solar energy and retail power distribution, was due to receive investment of up to $2 billion in 2020 and then up to $3 billion a year thereafter.
Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl said the fundamental outlook for Shell’s focus on shifting from liquid fuels to generating and distributing electricity had not changed.
“Companies growing low-carbon businesses should eventually be rewarded by the market, and ultimately we see this as the most likely way for Shell to rebuild its ambition to be a world- class investment case over the longer term,” Barclays equities analysts said in a note.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla and Ron Bousso; Editing by David Clarke)
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
