Shell boss resists activist’s break-up plan and says oil giant still need fossil fuels
Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden will not split the oil giant into multiple companies, going against what is being pushed for by majority shareholder Third Point.
Van Beurden told the BBC the oil giant’s green transition can only be funded by fossil fuels.
“At this point in time [the cash] comes from our legacy business,” he said. “If we have to build a hydrogen plant from a wind farm that we build in the North Sea for a billion dollars that is not going to be funded by a hydrogen business – it will be funded by the oil and gas business.”
Van Beurden’s comments come after Wall Street hedge fund Third Point acquired a $750 majority stake in the company and called for its breaking up to increase its performance and market value.
The hedge fund’s founder Daniel Loeb reportedly accused Shell of having an “incoherent” set of strategies, hinting at the many pressures the company is under.
“Shell has too many competing stakeholders pushing it in too many different directions,” Loeb told clients in a letter.