On this aerial photo, cars line as much as refuel ahead of price increases at a Shell gas station in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, June 14, 2022.
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British energy giant Shell is increasing oil and gas production to book profits in the near future. It also builds electric vehicle charging stations across Asia.
Shell CEO Wael Sawan doesn’t know where oil and gas demand might be in 10 to fifteen years, Squawk Box told CNBC on Wednesday. “Truthfully, anyone who knows this might be making loads of money at once. We don’t actually know,” Sawan told CNBC.
But in the short to medium term, Shell sees “very solid” demand for oil and gas, Sawan told CNBC. “We have made it very clear that we might be involved in our oil and gas businesses for a very long time,” added Sawan.
Also, Shell will invest from 10 to fifteen billion dollars in 2023-2025 on low-carbon energy technologies, including biofuels, hydrogen, charging electric vehicles and carbon capture. Shell earned over $42 billion in 2022.
Sawan said one area where Shell is “leaning more heavily” is constructing electric vehicle charging stations, especially in Asia.
“We have 46,000 retail stores worldwide today,” said Sawan. “There are loads of contiguities because you’ll be able to just put the chargers in the identical places where you sell internal combustion engines.”
In China in particular, there’s “significant penetration” of electrical vehicles, Sawan told CNBC.
“The truth is, in China, we’re seeing our EV charging customers come in twice as often as our combustion engine customers.”
Indeed, electric vehicle sales in China reached 3.3 million in 2021, which is 3 times the number of electrical vehicles sold in 2020. data from the International Energy Agency. In accordance with the IEA, Europe is the following largest electric vehicle market.
Public charging infrastructure is especially in demand in China as a result of the country’s growing preference for electric vehicles. Moreover, many Chinese and other Asians who buy electric vehicles live in high-rise buildings somewhat than homes where you’ll be able to have a private charging setup, Sawan said.
Shell’s second area of low-carbon investment is biofuels, that are comprised of organic and waste materials and then blended with gasoline. The demand for biofuels is driven, amongst others, by regulatory pressures in many parts of the worldSawan told CNBC.