Shell Outlines Plan to Increase Oil Production

The chief executive of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Jeroen van der Veer, said Wednesday that he planned to spend more on research, focus on big technology-driven projects, and possibly make acquisitions to increase oil and gas production 30 percent by 2015. Van der Veer, who took the helm 15 months ago after Shell was forced to admit that it had massively overstated its oil and gas reserves, has said that the company plans to produce 5 million barrels of oil a day in a decade, up from about 3.5 million now.

Van der Veer presented his top managers with more details of that plan this week, and briefed journalists on Wednesday.

Most of the shift in strategy focuses on helping the company become an indispensable partner to oil- and natural gas-rich governments. Several top energy companies are quietly following similar plans as easy-to-access oil projects dry up, and the balance of the world’s reserves shift to physically remote areas, or areas where governments are reluctant to cede control of their resources to Western oil companies.
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