Shell 'set to scrap oil cut target' at key strategy meeting

Shell is set to scrap a target to cut oil output when it updates investors on its strategy later this week, it was reported.

Wael Sawan, recently-installed CEO of the oil and gas supermajor – one of the leading fossil players in the energy transition alongside European peers such as BP – will tell its capital markets day on Wednesday that it will abandon a goal to reduce oil output by 1-2% annually, said Reuters.

The oil giant will make the change after already achieving its target on production through disposals, the financial newswire added, citing three unnamed sources.

Shell’s plans for the energy transition and its core fossil business are being closely studied amid a wider dilemma for oil & gas groups over where to focus their investments, given a boom in hydrocarbons returns and relatively tight margins in new areas such as offshore wind.

Shell last week announced the exit from home retail energy businesses in the UK, Netherlands and Germany citing tough market conditions.

It is also reported to be considering a sale of its Eolfi floating wind subsidiary.

The supermajor remains nevertheless one of the most active of the global oil giants in renewables in the energy transition, with major offshore wind projects underway in major markets such as the Netherlands and Scotland, and interests in key emerging sectors such as energy storage.

cover photo:The Daily Telegraph