Shell could possibly sell its UK energy supply business after injecting £1.2billion into the loss-making division to help it cope with rocketing gas and electricity prices.
The company yesterday said it had launched a strategic review of the operation, which supplies 1.4million British households and also operates in the Netherlands and Germany. Shell Energy employs around 2,000 people in the UK.
The news raises the prospect of the unit being sold just six years after Shell first moved into the Beitish household supply sector.
A spokesman stressed to the Telegraph that no decisions had been made yet.
The company entered the British home supply market in 2017 when it acquired energy and broadband provider First Utility and the firm's 825,000 customers.
Since then it has expanded its footprint with the acquisition of Green Star Energy and the Post Office's energy business, as well as agreements to take on some customers whose suppliers collapsed in the face of rising prices that have convulsed the industry for the past year and a half.
Extreme volatility
Shell provided £1.2billion in cash and credit to the subsidiary last year to help it weather the extreme volatility, with the division posting annual losses of £112million.
The group also operates home energy supply businesses in the US and Australia, but these are not being reviewed.
The company said the process was expected to take "a number of months", but did not give a target finish date.
The Shell spokesman said: "The review is in line with our powering progress strategy, which includes continually exploring options to maximise the value of our portfolio and address performance in tough market conditions.
"No decisions have yet been taken on the way forward and our priority remains to ensure our customers in those countries continue to receive a reliable and affordable energy supply, and to provide support for customers who are struggling with the cost of energy and wider cost-of-living pressures.
"We remain committed to our integrated business model that produces, buys, trades, transports and sells energy around the world.
"Our wholesale and (business-to-business) energy supply businesses are out of scope for this strategic review, as are our home energy supply businesses in the US and Australia."
The UK's retail energy supply sector has been hit since the summer of 2021, as gas and electricity prices were spurred higher by both the reopening of economies following the pandemic and then growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine and Kyiv's western allies.
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was down two-points at 7,758 shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday's 16-point gain.
Brent crude futures were 0.22% higher at $87.66 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
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