Shell Plc plans to keep spending tight this year after profit fell in the final quarter of 2024. Energy supermajors expected some end-of-year weakness, when oil prices mostly treaded below $75 a barrel following the election of US President Donald Trump.

Already, Trump is asking OPEC and its allies to further lower the cost of crude, to which oil companies’ financial performance is largely linked.

“It’s a year of volatility and uncertainty,” Shell Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan said in a Bloomberg TV interview this morning. Sanctions, tariffs, inflationary pressure and the response of China’s economy are all influencing “a foggy picture ahead for 2025.”

In the US, where Shell holds a significant presence and will outline a big strategy update for investors in March, the company is working with technology firms seeking reliable energy to power artificial intelligence data centers, Sawan said.

But he wouldn’t commit to building natural gas-fired plants like rivals Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. have recently. Instead, Sawan highlighted the company’s solar and battery portfolio, as well as its newly acquired gas plant in Rhode Island.

While he wants to grow Shell’s gas business in the years ahead, Sawan said he will keep a high bar for any big dealmaking in 2025.

The CEO is in the final year of his “sprint” plan laid out upon taking over the company’s leadership in January 2023. Together with Chief Financial Officer Sinead Gorman, he’s been cutting costs and shedding underperforming units, such as a nearly $1 billion writeoff of a US offshore wind project disclosed today.

When Shell reveals its 2025-and-beyond plans in March in New York, Sawan will be speaking in the city that has been tempting European oil companies such as his and TotalEnergies SE.

Gorman kept the possibility of Shell moving its listing to New York open when asked about it during a call with journalists.

“Something we are keeping on to review,” she said. “But not a live discussion at the moment of our board.”

—Mitchell Ferman, Bloomberg News