Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc (LSE: RDSA, RDSB), commonly known as Shell, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's second largest company by 2011 revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is also one of the world's most valuable companies. As of September 2012, its largest shareholder is BlackRock with 5% stake, while the Qatar Investment Authority has announced a plan to raise its stake from below 3% to 7%.

Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading. It also has major renewable energy activities, including in biofuels, hydrogen, solar and wind power. It has operations in over 90 countries, produces around 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has 44,000 service stations worldwide. Shell Oil Company, its subsidiary in the United States, is one of its largest businesses.

Shell has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. As of 6 July 2012, it was the largest company on the FTSE, with a market capitalisation of £140.9 billion. It has secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange.