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Shell: How the oil giant wants to become a green flagship company

2020-12-08T22:29:53.274Z


Europe's largest corporation invests billions in wind parks and hydrogen plants. But the calculation has not yet worked out. Shell can't let go of dirty business.


There is a place on the Rhine where the dimension of the upheaval in which Europe's largest group is located can be better understood than anywhere else.

And what an enormous distance lies ahead of him.

Wesseling, south of Cologne.

There, in Shell's Rhineland refinery, chemical plants stretch into the sky, cathedrals made of steel, connected with 70,000 kilometers of cane.

Around every tenth liter of petrol or diesel that motorists fill up in Germany is produced in this complex.

Right in the middle of it all is a building of much smaller dimensions, smaller than a school gymnasium, and the shell is finished.

Here, hydrogen is to be produced, climate-friendly with wind power.

A large part of the inner workings of the system is still missing, a British mechanical engineering company was unable to deliver important modules on time due to the pandemic.

Jörg Dehmel was a little worried in the meantime, because for him it is about more than just a new part of the company: "This is where we are building our future."

Dehmel, 51, with a doctorate in chemistry, is the head of technology in Wesseling. He rides his company bike to the construction site, painted red and yellow, the colors of Shell.

Hardly anyone knows as well as Dehmel what happens in the thicket of cables.

He started his career in the group 23 years ago and has remained loyal to it, which often happens at Shell.

Dehmel finds it “extremely inspiring” that he, the “one-company guy”, is now discovering the world of hydrogen after being surrounded by oil and gas for so long.

Hydrogen is “a cool molecule,” he says enthusiastically.

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Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2020-12-08

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