The History

In 1833 Marcus Samuel opened a small shop in London, selling sea shells to Victorian natural history enthusiasts. It soon became a thriving import¨Cexport business.

On a visit to the Caspian Sea coast, Marcus¡¯s son recognised a huge opportunity to export oil for lamps and cooking to the Far East. He commissioned the first special oil tanker in 1892, and subsequently delivered 4,000 tonnes of Russian kerosene to Singapore and Bangkok.

Meanwhile, the company Royal Dutch had been formed in the Netherlands to develop oil fields in Asia. By 1896 it had its own tanker fleet to compete with the British.

In time, it became obvious that the competing Dutch and British companies would do better working together. In 1907, the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies was created to incorporate their operations worldwide.

The company

The aim of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group is to meet the energy needs of society, in ways that are economically, socially and environmentally viable, now and in the future.

The company does this in a wide variety of ways. Most people know the Shell best as the suppliers of fuel and lubrication products at their local filling station; or as explorers on land and sea to find and produce oil.

But the Shell also has operations worldwide exploring for and producing gas, it markets this gas and power internationally, to consumers and businesses alike. While the company¡¯s chemical products find their way into all sorts of commercial and domestic use, from mobile phones to furniture.

And the company also has rapidly growing businesses in several of the ¡® new energy¡¯ sectors: including hydrogen, solar, geothermal and wind energy.

The Shell operates in over 145 countries, and employs more than 118,000 people. Around the globe, Shell companies work in partnership with industry, government and society to deliver what is expected of us ¨C economically, socially and environmentally. The company invests and collaborates in the development of new technologies that will keep improving its performance. Shell tries to ensure that its employees continuously acquire new skills and capabilities, through training and experience in their own countries and on secondments and assignments abroad. And the company constantly checks how well it is doing, with internal and independent audits of every aspect of its business.