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1. Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Financials: Latest Results
Rank: 1 (Previous rank: 2)
CEO: Peter R. Voser
Employees: 90,000
Address: Carel van Bylandtlaan 30
The Hague, 2596
Country: Netherlands
Website: www.shell.com

The company at the top of Fortune’s Global 500 list has made headlines for its push to drill in Arctic waters. It's been a controversial plan, in part, because a spill in cold water near Alaska would likely prove difficult to clean. Shell is pushing forward, hoping to begin drilling this July for some of the estimated 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the Arctic. Over the next 10-20 years, the company expects oil from the Arctic to be its largest source of crude.

In the short-term, Shell has done well, boosting its earnings for the first quarter of 2012 by 11%, compared to the previous year, to $7.7 billion. Part of the increase in earnings comes from Shell’s long-term projects that have just started producing: namely, a gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar and projects in the Canadian oil sands. -– Shelley DuBois, writer-reporter


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  $ millions % change from 2010
Revenues 484,489.0 28.1
Profits 30,918.0 53.6
Assets 345,257.0 --
Stockholders' equity 169,517.0 --
Profits as % of  
Revenues 6.4
Assets 8.9551
From the July 23, 2012 issue
Figures prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards.
Company is incorporated in Britain. Executive offices are in the Netherlands.
Excise taxes have been deducted.
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Rank # of Global 500 Companies
U.S. 132
China 73
Japan 68
Company 2011 Number of Employees
Wal-Mart Stores 2,200,000
China National Petroleum 1,668,072
State Grid 1,583,000
Company 2011 Profits
($ millions)
Gazprom $44,459.6
Exxon Mobil $41,060
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China $32,214.1
FAQ and methodology
All companies on the list must publish financial data and report part or all of their figures to a government agency. In the U.S., private companies and cooperatives... More
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