Shell has vowed to reward its shareholders even further after the FTSE 100 giant handed almost £19bn to its investors in 2024 while also revealing plans to cut spending and reduce costs

Ahead of its capital market day event today, the oil giant told investors it also plans to ramp up cost savings and cut spending as it promised to “deliver more value with less emissions”.

That comes despite having last year controversially dropping a plan to reduce net carbon intensity by 45 per cent by 2035.

Shell said it would now look to strip out a cumulative £3.9bn to £5.4bn a year by the end of 2028.

This is up from the previous aim for £1.5bn to £2.3bn by the end of 2025.

It will also lower its spending to £15.5bn to £17bn a year over the next three years.

The FTSE 100 firm told shareholders it would look to boost investor returns through share buybacks and dividends payouts.

Other targets outlined included aims to grow its top-line production across the group’s upstream and integrated gas business by one per cent a year over the next five years.

It added it would seek to grow sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by four per cent to five per cent a year through to 2030.

It cautioned over plans to shut some chemicals operations across Europe, saying it wants to “unlock more value from our strong portfolio of chemicals assets by exploring strategic and partnership opportunities in the US and both high-grading and selective closures in Europe”.

Chief executive Wael Sawan said: “Today we are raising the bar across our key financial targets, investing where we have competitive strengths and delivering more for our shareholders.”

Last year Shell also revealed plans to reduce the “net carbon intensity” of the energy it sells by 15 per cent to 20 per cent by 2030 compared with 2016, having previously targeted a 20 per cent reduction.

CEO gets bumper pay boost

According to its latest annual report, pay of Shell’s chief executive swelled to more than £8m in 2024.