Shell

There is fire. Oh, where? Beside the Shell gas station. A big accident happened on the road near a garden. Why? There is more oil on the road from a truck, which transports oil from Shell Company. Because of Shell, there are many problems that have happened in the world. Shell products cause pollution of the environment, Shell is a killer, and Shell is a Monopoly Company. But Shell is very important in the world. Shell is providing oil to people. People are using the oil for heating, cooking, and air conditioning. Shell supports companies with oil. Companies require oil to work and to produce. Shell makes a large amount of money from selling oil and other products. Shell made announcements in marketing with the purpose of marketing their products, but some people say they made deceptive advertisements without showing defective products. People expect Shell to provide them with petroleum products and still maintain their health and the environment. However, other people say Shell is one of the biggest companies that support the other companies of energy technology and people need the products of this company. In “Shell tackles energy challenges with cutting-edge technology” the author says “Shell has undertaken to tackle world energy challenges” (2007, para.2). Some people say Shell is evil. Why do they say that? They say that because the environment has become polluted and the health of its employees is not good. Therefore, governments should put more restrictions on Shell Company for many reasons. First, Shell is anti-environmental. Second, it causes disease for its employees. Third, Shell concentrates only on profit.

What is Shell? What does this name mean in the world? Shell is a big company in oil production. Shell is one of the biggest companies in the world that makes money every year. According to shell.com, it gives the definition of Shell; “Shell is a worldwide group of oil, gas and petrochemical companies with interests in biofuels, wind and solar power and hydrogen” (n.d., para.1). Shell started in the beginning of last century. In “Our history” the owners of Shell Company claim that “Shell companies first entered the chemicals industry in 1929, via a partnership in the Netherlands called NV Mekog, which manufactured ammonia from coke-oven gas” (n.d., para.1). Shell concentrates on money; it has a lot of money. Shell produces more oil to make more money. Shell gains some billion every year. According to Sterling (2008), “Shell's full-year net profit was $31US.3 billion (€21.2 billion), up 23 percent from $24US.4 billion, while sales rose 12 percent to $356US billion (€241 billion)” (para.17). Shell depends on crude oil, which is imported from many places by big ships. Shell buys the crude oil from the Arabian Gulf area, Nigeria, and other places. It buys the crude oil at a low price and sells it at a high price, so Shell makes huge money.

The first reason that governments should be put more restriction on Shell is environmental. Shell products are anti-environmental. Shell makes problems for people. For example, while trucks transport the oil from the store of companies to the gas stations, there is oil that falls over the roads and the force friction becomes very little. Therefore, many accidents will happen because of that oil. In addition, Shell gas emitted in the air, causing pollution of the environment. Kanter (2007) writes, “Shell causes 60 times more greenhouse gas emissions than the carbon dioxide that is reused by Dutch farmers to grow flowers” (para.8). That uses gas from Shell, a giant company, for causing air pollution at a large rate. If anyone is walking beside the place where there are oil refineries, he will breathe bad air. People want a beautiful environment, and they require preserving it by all means available. Shell and other oil companies that produce marrow oil cause pollution of the environment. There are many cooperatives in the world that try to protect the environment. Those co-operations work very well and hard in many countries, especially in Germany, to keep a clean environment.

Second, Shell caused diseases to its employees. Shell sometimes killed its employees. According to Weissert (2006), “Panamanian authorities have blamed it on an expired batch of glycerin manufactured in Spain. But outside experts are skeptical of that theory because glycerin, which occurs naturally in the human body and is added to many products, is highly stable and unlikely to break down” (para.13). Employees breathe through oil. Even if health insurance is strong, the health problems caused by the inhalation of oil cannot be redressed absolutely. The workers in the area of oil are unknown soldiers in the service of humanity, and everyone should stand in respect for them and treat them with the best treatment. Shell does not provide full protection for employees working in the oil wells. In “AP Executive Morning Briefing” the author states, (In Yenagoa, Nigeria), “Armed men have seized control of an oil complex in southern Nigeria owned by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, authorities said Friday. No deaths were reported but one man was shot in the overnight attack on the facility, an operating base that houses staff and stores equipment, said Joshua Benemesia, a local chief who has mediated hostage negotiations in Nigeria's oil-rich delta region” (2008, para.7). Shell does not care for its employees, or whether they lived or died.

Finally, not only is Shell anti-environment, and it causes disease for its employees, but also it concentrates only on profit. Shell, which is like any other big business company in the world, will have as an objective material profit. It is not surprising permission of the hard material profit. But a lot of people say that many of their profits and prices are very high. Shell benefited from the capitalist system to achieve very high profits. In “Technology and the Oil Chemicals Advantage” the author says “Maintaining that leading edge calls for improvements in existing processes, plus the development of next-generation technologies that will utilise feedstocks from more sources, at a lower cost and with a reduced environmental impact” (2006, para.2). Shell claims that, but if you look to the price of Shell product, it is high. In last two years, Shell investigates huge money. According to Krauss (2007), “Exxon and Shell Report Record Profits for 2006” the writer says “Shell reported a 21 percent rise in its fourth-quarter earnings, to $5.28 billion. That was mostly a result of a 4.1 percent increase in daily production of oil, to 3.65 million barrels, in the quarter. The company also continued to profit from its superior marketing and refining ability outside the United States” (para.18). In 2007, Shell makes more profit. In “Shell posts $27.6 billion profit in 2007” the writer says “Royal Dutch Shell reignited anger over excessive profits today after revealing it made $27.6 billion (£13.9 billion) in 2007 - a new record for a UK company” (2008, para.2). Shell investigates more profit and it is from the list which has the biggest companies that get more profit in the world.

Opponents of more restrictions on Shell say Shell is very good for some reasons: it provides the people with oil and people can use the oil for heating and air conditioning. Also Shell supported the companies-especially information technology companies- with oil to continue and produce. Shell can do that since it produces more oil. According to “Shell tackles energy challenges with cutting-edge technology” (2007), “Shell produces more oil and gas than any other private energy company and serves more than 25 million retail customers every day” (para.4). People believe that Shell presents great services to them for energy. In Shell website, Shell Company claims that “We help meet global energy demand in economically, environmentally and socially responsible ways.” Shell can do that since it has more money, but it does not do that. Shell shares projects to gain money. According to “Shell CEO defends strong profits” (2006), the interviewer says “we have to demonstrate clearly why it is to the advantage, for example of governments, to work with Shell and that can be to their advantage because we can execute projects at lower costs or we can recover the oil better or we have new technologies. We have clearly to demonstrate that it is always to the advantage of the governments to work with Shell. And if we do that then our future looks okay” (para.13). Some people say Shell can construct projects to solve the unemployment problem. A lot of young people have dreams to work with big companies like Shell. Those young people may be sad after a few months when they work in difficult places without security.

In conclusion, Shell is anti-environmental and anti-health of humans. Also Shell is greedy. Therefore, Governments must put more restrictions on Shell to become a good company. Shell could be a good company if it is not concentrated only on profit. It should encourage other companies to give a little money from profits to help people in their life. It can help people by constructing projects, making high quality products, and decreasing the price. Shell must help the young people who seek jobs by making a project for them. If Shell gives 2% of its profit to a co-operative society, it will help them to do some project and it will be better than another company. Shell is killing its employees; Shell focuses on profit without any responsibility for its employees. Shell can increase the security precautions to protect its employees. All people want to live in peace and security in everything. They want to satisfy food security and availability of fuel at reasonable prices for all.

References:

AP Executive Morning Briefing. (2006, December 15). Associated Press Online. Retrieved on April 23, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.

Kanter, J. (2007, July 6). Shell told to withdraw Dutch ad with green claims. The International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on April 22, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.

Krauss, C. (2007, February 2). Exxon and Shell Report Record Profits for 2006. The New York Times. Retrieved on April 23, 2008, from google.com

Our history. (n.d.). Shell Chemicals. Retrieved on April 22, 2008, from http://www.shellchemicals.com/aboutus/1,1098,52,00.html

Shell CEO defends strong profits. (2006, May 4). CNN.com. Retrieved on March 26, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.

Shell posts $27.6 billion profit in 2007. (2008, January 31). Google.com. Retrieved on April 23, 2008, from http://cronespeaks.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/shell-posts-276billion-profit-in-2007/

Shell tackles energy challenges with cutting-edge technology. (2007, October 22). Middle East Company News Wire. Retrieved on March 26, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.

Shell worldwide. (n.d.). Shell. Retrieved on April 22, 2008, from shell.com

Sterling, T. (2008, January 31). Shell 4Q net profit rises 60 percent to $8US.47 billion. The Associated Press. Retrieved on April 23, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database

Technology and the oil chemicals advantages. (2006, September 20). Chemical Week. Retrieved on April 12, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.

Weissert, W. (2006, October 27). Contaminated Medicine Kills 34 in Panama. Associated Press Online. Retrieved on April 23, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.