London, May 14, 2026, 14:04 (BST)
- Shell disclosed $23.84 billion in 2025 payments to governments tied to oil, gas and mineral extraction.
- The report lands five days before Shell’s annual meeting, where investors are due to vote on a climate disclosure resolution.
- Brazil, Oman and Norway were the largest recipients in Shell’s country-by-country table.
Shell Plc disclosed $23.84 billion in 2025 payments to governments, putting fresh numbers on the tax, royalty and production flows behind one of the world’s largest oil and gas portfolios days before a closely watched shareholder meeting.
The timing matters. Shell’s annual general meeting is scheduled for May 19 in London, and investors will vote on a Follow This climate resolution asking the company to show how its strategy would hold up if oil and gas demand falls. Shell has urged shareholders to reject it.
The payments report covers extractive activities, meaning exploration and production of oil, gas and minerals. Shell said it excludes refining, natural gas liquefaction and gas-to-liquids activities, and does not include payments from entities where Shell has joint control.
Brazil led the country table with $4.25 billion, followed by Oman at $3.99 billion and Norway at $3.77 billion. Qatar accounted for $2.91 billion, Malaysia $2.38 billion and Nigeria $2.02 billion, the filing showed.
The total included $10.04 billion in taxes, $8.04 billion in production entitlements, $3.77 billion in royalties, $360.6 million in bonuses and $1.63 billion in fees. Production entitlements are a host government’s share of output, while royalties are payments for the right to extract resources.
Shell also published a climate and energy transition lobbying report. The company said its 2025 effective tax rate was 39%, which it compared with an OECD average country effective tax rate of 20.5%.
The disclosure follows a strong first quarter. Shell reported adjusted earnings of $6.92 billion last week, raised its dividend by 5% and cut its quarterly share buyback to $3 billion from $3.5 billion after Middle East disruption lifted volatility but also hit output.
Chief Executive Wael Sawan said Shell had delivered strong results in a quarter marked by “unprecedented disruption in global energy markets.” The company said its cash flow from operations excluding working capital was $17.2 billion, while working capital swung out by $11.2 billion because of commodity price volatility. Shell
Chief Financial Officer Sinead Gorman said the dividend increase reflected “confidence we have in the long-term cash flows of the company,” Reuters reported. Citi analyst Alastair Syme said the cut in payouts from the dividend-buyback rebalance should have come earlier. Reuters
The sector context is still helping Shell. Reuters reported that European energy earnings surged in the first quarter as the Iran war lifted oil prices, while Shell, BP and TotalEnergies benefited from stronger oil trading more than their U.S. peers.
Shell has also moved on smaller portfolio and supply items in the past two days. Bulgargaz selected Shell to deliver a U.S.-loaded liquefied natural gas cargo, gas chilled into liquid form for shipment, for arrival in Turkey at the end of May. Separately, Les Echos reported Shell intends to sell about 60 French highway petrol stations; Shell declined to comment to Reuters.
The risk is that the same volatility now helping trading desks cuts the other way. Shell expects second-quarter integrated gas production to fall sharply because of the Middle East conflict, including disruption in Qatar, while lower oil prices would test the scale of future buybacks and could dull the cash generation behind the government payments now on display.
