Shell Corporate History

This article was written by Phineas Upham

The Royal Shell Corporation, commonly known simply as “Shell,” is one of the world’s most valuable companies. It’s a multi-national oil company with headquarters in both the Netherlands and Europe, and it’s considered one of the six major oil companies currently in existence. The company is currently responsible for 84% of the GDP from the Netherlands, with assets totaling $357 billion.

Shell is involved in all aspects of oil production, which include exploration and distribution. It also dabbles in alternative energy, in the forms of both biofuel and wind. Shell is active in 90 different countries, and the company produces roughly 3.1 billion barrels of oil each day.

It formed its first American branch in 1912, calling it “The American Gasoline Company.” The goal was to sell gas along the Pacific Coast, which was just beginning to see a surge in automotive use at the time. It had developed the countries first oil refinery by 1915, and it discovered an oil field in 1921. It was such good news at the time that the workers who were excavating had to spend significant portions of time herding onlookers away from the site.

Shell started a formal development company in 1928, with the intention of identifying chemicals that might be byproducts of gas production. In fact, the company still produces polymers and catalysts based on these ideas. It also uses these chemical byproducts to produce its own ammonia, something the company has done successfully since 1931.