Shell CEO sends blunt message on oil and the economy
Key takeaways
- Shell CEO sends blunt message on oil and the economy Hillary Remy Sun, May 10, 2026 at 1:17 AM GMT+7 6 min read SHEL CL=F The world consumes roughly 100 million barrels of oil every day.
- Shell CEO Wael Sawan used the company's Q1 2026 earnings call on May 7 to deliver one of the clearest assessments yet of where the global oil market actually stands.
- "The hard facts are we have dug ourselves a hole of close to a billion barrels of crude shortage at the moment, either because of locked in barrels or unproduced barrels," Sawan said during Shell's Q1 earnings call.
Shell CEO sends blunt message on oil and the economy Hillary Remy Sun, May 10, 2026 at 1:17 AM GMT+7 6 min read SHEL CL=F The world consumes roughly 100 million barrels of oil every day. For the past several months, a significant portion of that supply has simply not been produced. The gap is not closing. And one of the most senior executives in global energy just said so on the record.
Shell CEO Wael Sawan used the company's Q1 2026 earnings call on May 7 to deliver one of the clearest assessments yet of where the global oil market actually stands.
"The hard facts are we have dug ourselves a hole of close to a billion barrels of crude shortage at the moment, either because of locked in barrels or unproduced barrels," Sawan said during Shell's Q1 earnings call. "And of course, that hole is deepening every single day, so the journey back will be a long one."