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Royal Dutch Shell The Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies was founded in February 1907 when the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company Ltd. of the United Kingdom merged their operations. The Group, commonly known as Royal Dutch Shell plc, or simply as Shell, is a multinational oil company. The company’s headquarters are in The Hague, Netherlands, with its registered office in London. Shell is the second largest private sector energy corporation in the world. In 2008 Forbes Global 2000 ranked Shell the sixth largest company in the world. Also in 2008, Fortune magazine ranked Shell as the third-largest corporation in the world, behind Wal-Mart and ExxonMobil. Shell has a workforce of 104 000 employees in over 110 countries and territories worldwide. Its Shell Oil Company subsidiary in the United States, which is headquartered in Houston, Texas, is one of Shell’s largest businesses. Other subsidiaries of the company include Shell Nigeria and Shell Canada, etc. With its business strategy and priorities for the future “more upstream and profitable downstream”, Royal Dutch Shell’s business consists of the upstream businesses of Exploration Production, Gas Power; and the downstream businesses of Oil Products, Chemicals and Oil Sands. The objectives of the company are to engage efficiently, responsibly and profitably in oil, oil products, gas, chemicals and other selected businesses, and to participate in the search for and development of other sources of energy. Nevertheless, Shell plays a key role in helping to meet the world’s growing demand for energy in economically, environmentally and socially responsible ways. The company’s core values are “honesty, integrity and respect for people”, which have formed the basis of Shell’s General Business Principles for 30 years and remain as important as ever. The Logo “Shell” with the distinctive red and yellow colours has identified the Shell brand and pro