They seek a high standard of performance, maintaining a strong long-term and growing position in the competitive environments in which they operate.
They aim to work closely with their customers, partners and policymakers to advance more efficient and sustainable use of energy and natural resources. Shell is an energy company which explores for, produces and trades in a range of energy resources. They explore for and produce oil and gas and create essential products, such as fuels and petrochemicals. Shell provides consultancy and technical services as well as research and development expertise to the energy industry. Shell's upstream businesses explore for and extract oil and natural gas, and build and operate the infrastructure necessary to deliver these hydrocarbons to market. In most countries we partner in joint venture operations. Exploration & Production (E&P) manages a diverse portfolio, with operations in over 39 countries including the USA, UK, Oman, Nigeria and Asia. Some E&P interests date back to the beginning of the last century, reflecting Shell's long-established relationships in many countries. Shell companies strive to develop innovative ways of boosting the productivity of existing oil and gas fields and to find and develop new resources. A vital part of Shell’s business is the refining of crude oil to improve its quality and to extract useful substances and chemicals. We also sell oil products, have the largest single-brand retail network in the world and are a global leader in finished lubricants.
Crude oil forms the basis of many products we use in every day life – probably more than we realize. When it comes out of the ground, oil is not a pure substance, but a complex blend of hydrocarbons and other chemicals. So for it to be useful, we first need to spilt, or ‘refine’ it into different parts. They do not just drill for oil and gas; we also trade them and their products in markets around the world.
Crude oil is one of the world’s most important raw materials. Trading in crude is a fast-moving business, with markets fluctuating constantly to balance supply and demand. Shell has many years of experience in this trade, and puts this experience to use trading around 14 million barrels of crude oil equivalent every day.
For example, our Crude Oil traders are responsible for:
- Supporting Shell’s own crude oil requirements
- Buying significant volumes of crude oil from producers
- Selling Shell’s excess equity crude oil to government and business customers
- Advising on refinery and shipping optimization
Shell Trading companies also handle the bulk sale and purchase of many other products such as natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel, chemical feedstock’s and gasoline. Electricity, biofuels and environmental products also form part of their trading portfolio.
With shell there are over a 100 years of history, it has been an ongoing going process to get at the success it is with now, it did not just happen. Looking back over 100 years of history, it’s been an amazing journey. Mankind has managed to adapt, time and time again, through a century of rapid change and periodic upheaval. So has Shell. On July 5, 1907, Royal Dutch Shell’s corporate forefathers went to the notary to sign the official declaration for what at the time was a rather unique event: the coming together of two companies in two different countries, Royal Dutch and Shell Transport and Trading.
During World War I Shell became the main fuel supplier of the British Expeditionary Force and profited from increased after-war motor car use. By the end of the 1920s Shell was the world’s leading oil company and founded Shell Chemicals. The 1930s depression forced Shell to reduce its staff and World War II lead to the destruction of a lot of its properties. Shell's post-war years were marked by reconstruction and an ambitious expansion programme. Scientific advances and a growing number of cars in the US led to an exploding oil demand. Shell contributed to the invention of the jet engine and in 1950 formed a partnership with Ferrari. In the late 1950s the Group’s structure was reorganized. The 1960s strengthened Shell’s presence in the Middle East. The Dutch Groningen gas field and North Sea gas were discovered and Shell Chemicals entered a golden period for research. The 1973 oil crisis brought cheap energy to an end and Shell adopted a policy of diversification. In 1976 Shell produced its General Business Principles. In the 1980s, Shell grew through acquisition and started some of its challenging offshore exploration projects. During the 90s Shell founded its LNG business and at the beginning of the millennium it started moving into new growth areas in the East. In 2005, Royal Dutch and Shell Transport were unified under Royal Dutch Shell plc.
The history of the shell logo:
Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. They are active in more than 130 countries and territories and employ 108,000 people worldwide.
Shell's revenues of $318.8 billion in 2006 made it the third-largest corporation in the world by revenues behind only ExxonMobil and Wal-Mart. Its 2006 gross profits of $26 billion made it the world's second most profitable company, after ExxonMobil and before BP. Forbes Global 2000 in 2007 ranked Shell the eighth largest company in the world.
There are barriers on international trade, in which each country draws up, they are to limit the import of goods and services, they are doing it to protect there country and to make sure that no damage can be done through out the trading process, it is called protectionism. There are three main devices used, they are
- Tariff: is a trade barrier in the form of a customs duty, or tax, levied mainly on imports
- Import Quotas: are trade barriers in the form of limit on the numbers of product that can be imported .i.e. dumping.
- Embargo: a complete ban on the import or export of certain products.
All of the company’s would have to make sure they follow these very carefully. However there are also organizations promoting international trade such as:
- The world trade organization- they are designed to monitor and enforce trade agreements.
- The world bank- is to provide low-interest loans to developing nations for improving transportation, education, health and telecommunications.
- The international monetary fund (IMF) - is designed to assist in smoothing the flow of money between nations.
