Although the company has grown its oil and gas production and operating cash flow, it has taken a lot of new debt and common equity raising to accomplish these growth objectives.
The United States still needs to ensure the free flow of oil, because a stop in production will cause prices to spike on global markets, affecting the entire planet.
Strong global demand, inadequate spare production capacity, and threatened interruptions in the flow of oil from big suppliers Iran and Nigeria kept prices high this week.
But one Shell contractor said he still faced pressure to meet production deadlines, which meant somehow dealing with threats to disrupt the flow of oil.