Date: 18-Mar-09
Country: UK
Author: Tom Bergin
LONDON - Oil Major Royal Dutch Shell Plc doesn't plan to make any more large
investments in wind and solar energy in the future and does not expect
hydrogen to play an important role in energy supply for some time.
"We do not expect material amounts of investment in those areas going
forward," Linda Cook, head of Shell's gas and power unit told reporters at a
press conference on Tuesday.
"They continue to struggle to compete with the other investment
opportunities we have in our portfolio," Cook said of solar and wind.
Shell's future involvement in renewables will be principally limited to
biofuels, which the world's second-largest non- government-controlled oil
company by market value believes is a better fit with its core oil and gas
operations.
In the past year, the company said it was refocusing its wind business on
the U.S. as it pulled out of European projects.
Shell has around 550 megawatts of wind power capacity but does not break out
figures for investment in each renewable energy source.
From 1999-2006 Shell invested around $1.25 billion in green energy,
according to Reuters analysis of Shell's statements. Wind played a large
part of that.
One renewables analyst said the decision could reflect the $100/bbl drop in
oil prices since July which has eased concerns about energy supply and the
economic crisis which has pushed environmental concerns down the agenda.
"There may not be any political pressure on them to invest in renewables at
this particular stage," the analyst, who asked not to be named, said.
The decision may anger environmental groups who, in recent years, have put
pressure on Shell over its major investments in Canada's oil sands, an
energy and water intensive business which involves squeezing crude from
bitumen-soaked soil.
While Shell's advertising focuses on its involvement in renewable energy,
only around 1 percent of its investments go to these energy sources.
(Editing by Rupert Winchester)
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