Energy services for new mobility: spotlight on Shell

Oil and gas majors have made a fortune off the transport industry’s reliance on gasoline and diesel, but what happens to that business model in the push for net zero? While nobody is packing in their petroleum fuels businesses just yet, many players are adjusting their corporate strategies in the wake of growing electric vehicle (EV) uptake and looming internal combustion engine (ICE) bans.

Big Oil doesn’t get much bigger than Shell. By revenue, it’s the second largest investor-owned oil and gas company in the world, following only ExxonMobil. It’s also jockeying to become a key player in EV charging, biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). The company plans to invest US$10-$15bn between 2023 and 2025 to support the development of these low-carbon energy solutions. “How the energy system will look in five, ten or 20 years from now is impossible to say,” Wael Sawan, Chief Executive Officer, told attendees at the 2023 Capital Markets Day. “But in the midst of this uncertainty there will be developments we can be fairly sure of. The global energy mix is changing. However, demand for energy services will continue to grow and will have to be met by a combination of different types of energy.”