Shell

Trade name of the Anglo-Dutch oil-development and exploration concern Royal Dutch/Shell Group, one of the world's biggest companies, formed 1907.

Shell is the world's largest oil and gas producer, with the largest oil reserves, and is responsible for 5% of the world's oil and gas production. It has 2,000 operating companies worldwide. It is also the world's largest retailer, with (1994) 40,000 petrol stations in 100 countries. Its sales turnover in 1992 amounted to more than the gross national product of any country except the 23 richest.

The company abandoned plans to dump a disused oil-storage platform in the north Atlantic Ocean June 1995 in the face of widespread protests spearheaded by the environmentalist group Greenpeace. Greenpeace later apologized for having publicized misleading information during its campaign to avert the dumping - it had wrongly asserted that the rig contained 38,500 barrels, rather than the 350 barrels claimed by Shell.

Shell was again criticized November 1995 for failing to extert influence on the Nigerian government on the matter of the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists.

The business originated in the early 19th century with a curio shop in East London that sold shell ornaments; by 1830 the dealer, Marcus Samuel, had built up an international trade in copra and oriental artefacts. From 1897 the company dealt in oil and kerosene (paraffin oil) and was consolidated as the Shell Transport and Trading Company, amalgamating with the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company 1907.