Houston-Based Oil Company Reveals Big Plans to Close 1,000 Gas Stations

Changes are coming to Houston, Texas, and the rest of the country will surely not be far behind. One of the world's largest oil companies revealed plans to shift its focus and in the process close 1,000 gas stations.

Oil giant, Shell published its Energy Transition Strategy 2024 report and announced it will be getting rid of around 1,000 stations over the next couple of years. The new plan is to expand services for electric vehicles (EVs), according to InsideEVs.

According to the report, "We are upgrading our retail network, with expanded electric vehicle charging and convenience offers, in response to changing customer needs. In total, we plan to divest around 500 Shell-owned sites (including joint ventures) a year in 2024 and 2025."

It goes on to say that the company is looking to install around 70,000 public charging points by 2025 and around 200,000 by the end of the decade, signaling a potential big change for everyone.

And you may be surprised to learn that according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy, Texas is leading the way when it comes to EV adoption. I didn't see that coming.

As of July 2023, only by California and Florida have more registered EVs. Of course one of the biggest problems right now with EVs is infrastructure, but it appears that Shell is looking to at the very least begin addressing that.

This will come as less of a surprise to folks who are familiar with Houston's climate action plan, which included a call to convert all nonemergency, light-duty municipal vehicles to EVs.

In order to achieve our long-term goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, ambitious, interim targets were established to keep us on track. Using these targets as a roadmap, the CAP aims to reduce Houston’s base year emissions (33,414,134 tonnes CO2 e in 2014; city-induced framework) by at least 40% by 2030 and at least 75% by 2040.

Read more here.