Shell drops target to cut oil production as CEO guns for higher profits

Wael Sawan prioritises shareholder payouts, setting out plan to keep oil production steady until 2030

Shell has abandoned plans to cut oil production each year for the rest of the decade, in a shift in approach to firmly target fossil fuels and increase payouts to shareholders under its new chief executive, Wael Sawan.

The FTSE 100 oil company on Wednesday announced that oil production would remain stable until 2030, after previously saying it would cut output by “around 1-2% each year”.