Boston, MA 05/20/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.B) moved to allay fears among its investors that its investment in fuel reserves would go to waste if governments pass drastic laws relating to greenhouse gas emissions. The company becomes the latest big player in the oil and gas sector to reassure investors of its positive outlook despite the climate change chatters.
The Europe’s biggest oil company dismissed the notion that its proven oil reserves around the world will become unprofitable in the face of widespread regulatory measures to curb usage of hydrocarbon fuels. Instead, the company in a letter to investors last week said it expects fossil fuels to play a key role in the global energy for a longer time beyond 2050.
Fundamentally flawed notion
According to JJ Traynor, Shell’s EVP Investor Relations, ‘stranded assets’ notion seems thought-through but it has fundamental flaws. In other words, it lacks in reality because the demand and prices for fossil fuels will remain strong through the years given the pace of prosperity, energy needs around the world and the fast growing world population. As such, there is no way fossil fuel can be taken out of the picture if things are to progress in the envisaged manner.
Trillions at stake
Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.B) and its peers in the fossil fuel business are uncomfortable with the widespread distortion of the reality about the global energy demand. Therefore, as much as governments around the world think about reducing carbon emissions through the curbing of fossil fuel usage, Shell believes that the reality will compel continued usage of fossil fuels through the centuries. That means that investors need not be worries about trillions of investment in proven oil reserves going to waste. The same assurance came from Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM).
Shell shutting coking unit
Although Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.B) believes that fossil fuels will remain the mainstay in the energy sector for the long haul, the company understands the need to curb climate change. As such, the company announced plans to shut its coking unit at a refining plant in California, a move that will see the company reduce its greenhouse emissions by 15 percent.
