Shell

About Shell

The story begins not with oil, but with seashells. In 1833, an English antique dealer named Marcus Samuel began importing oriental seashells to London, capitalizing on their popularity in interior design. His sons, Marcus junior and Samuel Samuel, inherited the business and expanded it, becoming interested in the oil export business. They commissioned the world's first purpose-built oil tanker, the Murex, which in 1892 made its first voyage. In 1897, the brothers renamed their business The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company. Meanwhile, a rival firm, the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, was established in the Netherlands in 1890 to develop an oilfield in Sumatra. Both companies were competing with the dominant American player, Standard Oil. Facing intense competition and overproduction in the market, the two decided to join forces. A pivotal moment came in April 1907 when Shell Transport and Trading merged with Royal Dutch Petroleum. This created the Royal Dutch Shell Group, with ownership split 60/40 between the Dutch and British entities, respectively. This structure allowed the combined company to compete on a global scale. The new group expanded rapidly, opening operations across Europe and Asia. For nearly a century, this dual-company structure remained. However, in 2005, following a reserves-overstatement controversy, the partnership was dissolved and unified into a single new holding company, Royal Dutch Shell plc, to improve efficiency and simplify its corporate structure. Today, Shell plc is one of the largest energy companies in the world.