Performance in the year

Performance indicators

These indicators enable management to evaluate Shell's performance against our annual operating plan. They are also used as part of the determination of Executive Directors' remuneration. See "Directors' Remuneration Report".

Safety remains our top priority. Sadly, five contractor colleagues died in incidents that took place at Shell operations in 2023. This is a reminder of our need to relentlessly focus on safety.

In 2023, we exceeded our targets for Financial delivery, Shell's journey in the energy transition and Operational excellence.

We had another year of very strong financial delivery with the second-highest cash flow from operations in Shell's history, despite the external uncertainty and volatility.

In Shell's journey in the energy transition we made good progress on increasing the number of electric vehicle charge points and reducing operational emissions. The contribution of low-carbon products in the Adjusted Earnings of the Marketing segment decreased mainly due to lower lubricants demand and higher costs for low-carbon Mobility products.

Operational excellence ensures we deliver for our customers and drive financial performance. We had good Project delivery outcomes in 2023 and the Customer excellence indicators were very positive. Upstream controllable availability was outstanding but midstream was impacted by unplanned maintenance. Chemicals and Refining availability was impacted by ongoing challenges at Shell Polymers Monaca, and the recovery after a fire in Deer Park.

Financial delivery

Cash flow from operating activities is the total of all the cash receipts and payments associated with our sales of oil, gas, chemicals and other products. The components that provide a reconciliation from income for the period are listed in the "Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows". This indicator reflects our ability to generate cash to service and reduce our debt, and for distributions to shareholders and for investments.

Shell's journey in the energy transition

The percentage of Marketing segment Adjusted Earnings from low-carbon energy products (on a life-cycle basis), defined as biofuels and electric vehicle charging, as well as non-energy products, defined as lubricants, bitumen, sulphur, and earnings from convenience retail.

GHG abatement projects that resulted in sustained GHG reductions (e.g. flare reduction projects or energy efficiency projects), site closures and decommissioning or transformations, and use of renewable electricity for Scope 2 reductions.

All charge points in Mobility which include both public out-of-home and Shell Recharge Solutions.

Operational excellence

Project delivery on schedule reflects our capability to complete major projects on time and within budget. Project delivery on schedule measures the percentage of projects delivered on schedule.

Project delivery on budget reflects the aggregate cost against the aggregate baseline for those projects, where a figure greater than 100% means over budget.

The customer satisfaction index (CSI) is the quantitative measurement of customer experience (CX) performance. It is provided from the global transactional survey programme (both email and digital surveys). CSI is calculated using simple average methodology from individual customer responses/satisfaction scores (overall satisfaction with Shell) covering all businesses and countries.

Brand Share Preference is the percentage of customers who answer "Shell" in response to the question: "Assuming that all the fuel station companies that you would consider are conveniently located, which one company do you prefer most?". Responses are taken from survey respondents in more than 60 countries covering both fuel and non-fuel retail consumers.

Upstream controllable availability performance reflects our ability to optimally run our Upstream assets. Reliability issues, turnarounds and maintenance at own-operated or third-party facilities all impact controllable availability, but it excludes the impact of extreme unexpected events that are outside our control, such as government restrictions and hurricanes. Upstream controllable availability includes all Shell-operated assets (excluding Groningen) and selected assets not operated by Shell, but for which Shell has strategic influence.

Midstream availability shows to what extent LNG assets are ready to process product as a comparison with capacity, considering the impact of planned and unplanned maintenance.

Refinery and chemical plant availability is the weighted average of the actual uptime of plants as a percentage of their maximum possible uptime. The weighting is based on the capital employed, adjusted for cash and non-current liabilities. This indicator is a measure of the operational excellence of our refinery and chemical plant facilities.

Safety

Serious Injury, Illness and Fatality (SIF) is defined as a serious work-related injury or illness that resulted in a fatality or a life-altering event, which is defined as a long-term or permanent injury or illness with a significant impact on daily activities. Serious Injury and Fatality Frequency (SIF-F) is calculated by dividing the number of employee and contractor SIF by 100 million working hours.

A Tier 1 process safety event is an unplanned or uncontrolled release of any material, including non-toxic and non-flammable materials, from a process with the greatest actual consequence resulting in harm to employees, contract staff, or a neighbouring community, damage to equipment, or exceeding a threshold quantity, as defined by the API Recommended Practice 754 and IOGP Standard 456. A Tier 2 process safety event is a release of lesser consequence.