was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

company that operated as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

until it was acquired by

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries, produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products, and also operates gas stations under the brand and (until 2023) in its own ''Idemitsu'' and ''Sh ...

in 2018 and integrated into the company the following year. It was formed by the merger of Showa Oil Company and Shell Sekiyu which was begun around 1876 in Yokohama by

Samuel Samuel & Co Samuel Samuel & Co, was a trading company founded in Yokohama, Japan, by Samuel Samuel in partnership with his elder brother Marcus Samuel, creator of the Shell Transport and Trading company. The opening of this trading company helped pave the wa ...

, the predecessor of Shell Group today. Showa Shell Sekiyu acted as an oil and energy products business in Japan and worldwide, from crude oil extraction and refining, to retail and wholesale energy supply operations.

History

Origins

In 1900,

, which had started in Japan in 1876 by

Samuel Samuel Samuel Samuel (7 April 1855 – 23 October 1934) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1913 to 1934, and had extensive investments in East Asia. He was one of the founders of the company ...

as an international trading business in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, created an independent petroleum division. It subsequently set up Rising Sun Petroleum Co. Ltd (which later became Shell Petroleum) to expand its distribution channels of candles and kerosene for lamps. Before long, Samuel Samuel & Co, which expanded as Shell Transport, merged with Royal Dutch to form Royal Dutch/Shell. Rising Sun Petroleum continued to expand its operations as the base of the Shell Group in Japan. At the same time, oilfields were discovered in Japan along the coast of the Japan Sea primarily in Niigata Prefecture. Hayama Sekiyu and Niitsu Sekiyu, the predecessors of Showa Sekiyu, were established amidst the production of domestic petroleum.

20th century

In 1947, Rising Sun Petroleum was renamed Shell Sekiyu and resumed business. Starting with a capital agreement between the Shell Group and Showa Sekiyu, domestic oil companies deepened the collaboration with foreign oil companies. Shell Sekiyu and Showa Sekiyu merged in 1985 to form Showa Shell Sekiyu. On February 20, 1993, it lost half its value on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...

. The group had just announced a loss of one billion dollars on the dollar-yen pair, or 5 times its profits. The treasury manager, who had tried to cover up and hide this financial disaster, had been fired. Yet originally, the company wanted only one thing: to protect the value of its income against a fall in the yen. Only the traders on the currencies of the group took advantage of the lack of control to speculate and no longer content themselves with hedging the risks. They increased the size of their bets in hopes of cutting their losses, which they only made worse.

Business

Oil Business

Showa Shell Sekiyu refines crude oil imported from around the world at Group refineries in Japan (Yokkaichi, Keihin, and Yamaguchi; crude oil processing capacity: 445,000 barrels/day), and sells it to customers as gasoline and other oil products at about 3,460 (as of Dec 31, 2013) service stations (SS) throughout Japan. In addition, Showa Shell Sekiyu sells oil products including industrial fuels, LPG, chemicals, lubricants, and bitumen, and utilize the Shell Group's global network to export oil products.

Energy Business

(1) Solar Business Showa Shell Sekiyu has developed the technology for manufacturing next-generation CIS thin-film solar panels. The production plants owned by its subsidiary

Solar Frontier Solar Frontier Kabushiki Kaisha is a Japanese photovoltaic company that develops and manufactures thin film solar cells using Copper indium gallium selenide solar cells, CIGS technology. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu and loc ...

K.K. have a total annual production capacity of about 1GW, and its CIS modules have been sold in Europe, the U.S., the Middle East, and Asia, as well as Japan. Solar Frontier K.K. is providing a wide range of services from plant engineering to plant operation and further to selling those plants to end-users or investors in relation to the solar power plant development. (2) Electric Power Business Ohgishima Power Co., Ltd., as a joint venture with Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd., has been operating two natural gas-fired power plants (Ohgishima Power Stations). Showa Shell Group is producing and selling electricity sourcing from clean energy.

Subsidiaries

Showa Shell has a number of subsidiaries and affiliated companies. The company’s major subsidiaries include: its solar panel producer

KK.; Japan Oil Network Co, Ltd.; Showa Shell Sempaku K.K.; Showa Shell Business & It Solutions Ltd.; K.K. Enessance Holdings; Niigata Joint Oil Stockpiling Co., Ltd; Hokkaido Joint Oil Stockpiling Co., Ltd.; Toa Oil Co.,Ltd.; Seibu Oil Co., Ltd.; Oita L.P.G. Joint Stockpiling Co., Ltd.; Shoseki Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.; Nippon Grease Co., Ltd.; Heiwa Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.; Ohgishima Power Co., Ltd; On-Site Power Co., Ltd.; Showa Yokkaichi Sekiyu Co., Ltd.; And K.K. Svc Tokyo.

Sale to Idemitsu Kosan

In July 2015 it was announced that Shell would sell its 33.24% stake in the company to

. Shell will keep a 1.8% stake in the company.Shell websit
30 Jul 2015 Shell to sell its shareholding in Showa Shell to Idemitsu
Retrieved August 3, 2015

References

External links

* (archived, 2 Aug 2017) {{Authority control Oil companies based in Tokyo Shell plc Shell Showa Chemical companies based in Tokyo Energy companies based in Tokyo Non-renewable resource companies established in 1900 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1985 Japanese companies established in 1900 Japanese companies established in 1985 Energy companies established in 1985 Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies Shell Showa Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 2018 mergers and acquisitions