Growing global oil demand will create a daily shortfall equating to about 80 times the size of current North Sea output without more investment in production, Royal Dutch Shell boss Ben van Beurden has said.
The gap between supply and demand could grow to 70million barrels per day by 2040, he said, adding: “That’s the equivalent of six times Saudi Arabia’s 2013 production and 80 times the size of today’s UK North Sea production.”
Mr van Beurden was speaking at Shell’s annual general meeting in The Hague. Outside, environmental activists protested against Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean – an area the firm backed out of in 2012 when its main rig ran aground.
Last week, US regulators conditionally approved Shell’s Arctic drilling proposals – prompting activists to stage a protest near a Shell rig docked in Seattle. Mr van Beurden reiterated Shell’s plans to brace the waters off Alaska’s coast once more, and said the firm had stepped up its oil spill response capabilities since the 2012 mishap.
