Most of the company's revenue, over 340 billion U.S. dollars, was generated by the company’s Downstream segment. This segment includes refinery processing, oil products and chemicals. The largest share of Shell’s revenue regionally was made in Asia, Oceania, and Africa. In 2017, 39.6 percent or 154 billion U.S. dollars of revenue was generated in this world region.
Shell spends a huge part of its revenue on purchases of all kinds. In 2018, these purchases were worth some 294 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, exploration costs reached about 208 million U.S. dollars in 2018. Expenditure on research and development stood at some 986 million U.S. dollars in the same year.
The number of employees at Shell has decreased over the past number of years, from more than 100,000 in 2009 to some 81,000 currently. These people are employed in all of Shell’s segments and divisions, which means in every area of the oil and gas sector, from exploration to trade.
