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Investment priorities
Our company is driven through a series of strategic themes, each requiring distinctive technologies and risk management.
- Our ‘engines’ in heartland upstream and downstream are strongly cash generative, mature businesses, which will underpin our financial performance to at least the end of this decade, and beyond. Here, we apply Shell’s distinctive technology and operating performance to extend the productive lives of our assets and to enhance their profitability, and we make investments in selective growth positions.
- Our growth priorities are in three strategic themes, namely deep water, integrated gas and resources plays such as shale gas (“unconventionals”). These will provide our medium term growth, and we expect them to become core engines in the future. Here, we use the advantages of Shell’s technological know-how and global scale to unlock highly competitive resources positions.
- Our future opportunities include Arctic, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Iraq and heavy oil, where there are large reserves positions potentially available, with the pace of development driven by market and local operating conditions.
Investment priorities
Strategic themes
Read more about each of the strategic theme:
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Downstream engine In our Downstream businesses, our emphasis remains on sustained cash generation from our existing assets and selective growth investments. |
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Upstream engine Shell’s upstream engine focuses on cash generation from some of our mature basins. |
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Integrated gas Shell is the leading IOC for integrated gas, which is LNG and Gas to Liquids. |
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Deep water Shell is one of the industry’s pioneers in deep water oil and gas business with some 330 thousand barrels per day of production in 2012 with a strong growth outlook. |
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Resources plays Fraccing technologies have opened up a very exciting new resources base for the industry and we want Shell to be a leading player here. |
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Future opportunities This strategic theme covers countries and plays where Shell has access to very large resources positions – typically in oil – but where there are surface issues that can slow down the development pace, such as community and government relations, security of our staff and evolving local fiscal and environmental regulations. |
Related releases
Strategic themes
Read more about each of our strategic themes:





