“Royal Dutch Shell has rejected calls to break itself up”
The Times
Shell sets new goal to cut emissions
Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: The Times
Royal Dutch Shell has rejected calls to break itself up as it set a new emissions reduction goal in an attempt to please environmental critics.
Ben van Beurden, chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch oil major, insisted that it was better able to serve the energy transition as an integrated company using its oil and gas profits to fund low-carbon investments.
He suggested that investments in Shell by hedge funds such as Third Point, which on Wednesday revealed a stake and called for the company to be broken up, were “not necessarily for the benefit of the energy transition”.
He was speaking as Shell reported third-quarter results that fell well short of expectations, sending its London-listed B shares down 61½p, 3.5 per cent, to £17.06½.