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Shell Has 125 Years' Experience With Russia, Hopes for Promising Future - CEO

© Sputnik / Maksim Bogodvid / Go to the mediabankShell gas station in Tatarstan. File photo
Shell gas station in Tatarstan. File photo - Sputnik International
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The 125th anniversary of the operations of Royal Dutch Shell in Russia isn't only a symbol of their fruitful past, but a promising future as well, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden writes in an article for Sputnik.

2017 is an important year for Shell in Russia.

Exactly 125 years ago, in August 1892, the world's first bulk oil tanker crossed the Black Sea loaded with Russian kerosene and headed to Singapore.

A picture shows the logo of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell - Sputnik International
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That was a great day for Shell and an important one for the whole oil and gas industry. Before that day, oil shipments had been banned from the Suez Canal due to safety concerns. Through innovation and a determined focus on safety, Shell had overcome those fears. The company’s ship, the Murex, was not only a great advance of technical innovation but also one of the safest transport vessels of its time.

From that promising start, great things came.

In 1910, Royal Dutch Shell acquired its first concession for the development of Russian oil fields and moved into the large-scale production of crude oil. Gradually, Shell became the leading producer of oil in the Caucasus and beyond. By 1917, Shell produced 22% of the oil in Russia. So it was that from Russia, and in collaboration with Russia, that Shell first emerged as a major oil company.

The history of the 20th Century was not easy for Russia, and nor was it easy for Shell in Russia. By the end of 1917, the revolution and civil war had halted most activity at most oil fields. In 1918, the country’s oil sector was nationalised, including the assets of the Shell Group.

During the dreadful years of the Second World War, the relationship with Shell turned a new leaf. Allied naval convoys made up of Shell tankers delivered fuel and petroleum products to Soviet ports. In 1983, Shell was glad to open a representative office in Moscow. In the early 1990s, the company came back to Russia with major oil and gas projects.  

Today Shell is rightly proud of the work it does alongside Russian partners in the modern Russia. Shell participates in the Sakhalin 2 project – which is the only liquefied natural gas project in the country. Together with our Russian partners and contractors, Shell is using state-of-the-art oil and gas drilling and production technologies and enhanced oil recovery methods. These ensure both Russia and Shell get the greatest value from the resources we produce together.

And 2017 is not just an important year for Shell in Russia because of all we have already achieved together. It is important as the starting place for everything that is still to come.

We are celebrating just the first 125 years of our operations in Russia, I hope.

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Russia is well positioned to play an important role in addressing the world’s energy challenge of meeting more demand while reducing emissions. Its experience of implementing large-scale projects, the availability of qualified staff and its enormous reserves of gas, which produces half the CO2 compared to coal when burnt for power, all point to a bright future.

Shell is confident that gas is an essential source of energy for the coming decades. This firm belief is yet another bond uniting us with our Russian partners.

And the many bonds between Shell and Russia have strengthened our partnership over time. The bonds of history and of collaboration have, over the years, matured into a mutual trust. Shell deeply values the trust of the government of the Russian Federation and the captains of the Russian oil and gas industry.

This trust can be seen in Shell’s long-standing and successful work with our strategic partner Gazprom. It is visible in our cooperation with Gazprom Neft, with Sovcomflot and with other leading Russian oil and gas companies and services. We have also established strong relations with the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas and the Bolshoi Theater.

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None of the achievements of Shell in Russia, from the first voyage of the Murex to Sakhalin 2, would have been possible without the support, cooperation and trust we enjoy in partnerships such as these.

And none of those achievements, none of the success Shell has enjoyed in Russia over the last 125 years, would have been possible without the outstanding work and remarkable commitment shown by thousands of Russian employees.

Russia and its people are a significant part of Shell’s history. Shell has played its own part in Russia’s history. Together, Russia and Shell have the strongest of foundations on which to build a great future together.

by Ben van Beurden, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc.

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