Shell streamlines its retail business – which markets is it saying goodbye to?

Shell, the oil major with the largest global branded retail footprint, has been expanding its network heavily over the past decade. However, Shell changed direction in 2023, as It retired its target of having 55,000 branded sites by 2025 and announced the divestment of 500 company-owned stations per year out to 2025. That marked a clear shift in focus from massive expansion towards high-grading. In our insight, we take a look at, among others, the market environment that drove Shell to overthink its previous strategy, the implications of the oil major’s latest retail transactions, and the markets which seem the less fit into Shell’s planned portfolio.