Shell paid governments $23.8B in 2025 as global output shifted

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) reported total payments to governments of $23.84 billion for 2025, according to its annual transparency filing released Thursday.

The figure, which covers the company's upstream extractive activities, reflects a combination of taxes, royalties, and production entitlements paid across dozens of jurisdictions under UK, EU, and U.S. disclosure rules.

The largest portion of the payout was comprised of $10.04 billion in taxes, followed by $8.04 billion in production entitlements.

Royalties accounted for $3.77 billion, while the company also reported $1.63 billion in fees and $360.6 million in bonuses.

Infrastructure improvements contributed a further $1.3 million to the total.

On a geographic basis, Brazil emerged as the top recipient of Shell’s extractive payments, totaling $4.25 billion, driven by the company’s expansive deepwater presence.

Oman and Norway followed closely, receiving $3.99 billion and $3.77 billion, respectively.

In the Middle East, Qatar received $2.91 billion, while payments to Malaysia reached $2.38 billion.

In Africa, Nigeria received $2.02 billion in payments, a figure closely watched by transparency advocates amid the company's multi-year effort to shift its focus from onshore oil toward offshore and integrated gas projects.

Other major disbursements included $1.82 billion to Australia and $1.12 billion to the United States.