The British oil and gas giant Shell said on Wednesday that it expects to maintain its crude production “stable” between now and 2030, despite the fact that in 2021 it announced targets to reduce it by 1% to 2% per year.
Shell “will expand its advantageous position in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons and generate long-term cash flows by stabilizing its production until 2030,” the company said in a statement.
According to the group, its production reduction targets for that period are already covered.
A Shell spokesman explained to AFP that this carbon neutrality plan, presented in 2021 and based on 2019 production, has been fulfilled since 2022 thanks to various assignments, such as the sale of shale oil fields to the United States.
“We invest to provide the energy security that customers need,” CEO Wael Sawan was quoted as saying in the statement.
“The pace of the transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy depended on many things, including government policies, the cost of energy development and consumer demand,” he added.
According to the group’s financial director, Shell will give priority to investments in the gas field, mainly because the carbon emissions of this energy source are lower than those of oil and coal and because it is easy to transport.
The company also announced this Wednesday a series of gifts to its shareholders, with a 15% increase in the dividend per effective share in the second quarter of 2023, and purchases of shares of at least 5,000 million dollars in the second half of this year. .
The NGO Global Witness criticized this “180 degree turn” undertaken “behind the energy crisis, instead of accelerating green investments.”
“Like other fossil fuel giants that have also revised their ambitions downward, Shell now admits that it does not plan to change its business model, [lo que es] incompatible with the efforts” against “climate collapse”, commented the NGO Friends of the Earth.