“Royal Dutch Shell plc (LSE: RDSA, RDSB), commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world (and the second-largest energy company) according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six oil and gas “supermajors”. It is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading. It also has major renewable energy activities, including in biofuels, hydrogen, solar and wind power.
Shell has operations in over 90 countries, produces around 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has 44,000 service stations worldwide. Shell Oil Company, its subsidiary in the United States, is one of its largest businesses.
Shell has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. As of December 2011, it was the largest company on the FTSE, with a market capitalisation of Â£149.2 billion. It has secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange.