Oil-giant Shell exploring acquisitions in the renewable energy sector
Shell gas station (source: flickr/ Open Grid Scheduler, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
1 Dec 2016
Oil & gas giant Royal Dutch Shell is looking into increased efforts to acquire renewable energy projects, if geothermal will be part of what is on the table will have to be seen.
The world’s second-biggest publicly listed oil company, Royal Dutch Shell, is looking into further investments into the renewable energy sector.
This is reported by Reuters based on discussions with the company’s CEO. With a shift in the oil & gas sector, policies on climate change, there is a tremendous shift in the energy markets putting pressure on oil and gas companies to prepare for a time after fossil fuels.
Shell is looking at playing a leading role in that energy shift, last but not least also due to the pressure by major investors and shareholders in Shell.
With 500 MW in onshore wind power capacity in the U.S. and its biofuel business in Brazil, the company is already active. But unlike others, it is not planning to invest into techology as such, but rather sees itself as an electricity provider, so “delivering a service, rather than being the owner of a technology.”
Shell has in the past looked at geothermal energy, but seen the sector and its projects as too small to be of major interest to the company. It will be interesting to see if this is changing.
Source: Reuters
