Producer
Shell Catalysts & Technologies
Shell's catalyst and technology licensing division (The Hague, Netherlands); includes Criterion Catalysts & Technologies (formed 1988 combining Shell, American Cyanamid, and Shell International Chemical catalyst businesses). Offers CENTERA GT® hydrotreating catalyst platform and DC-2638 CoMo catalyst for ULSD. Simultaneously an oil major refiner (competing with customers it sells catalysts to) and one of the world's largest hydroprocessing catalyst suppliers. Shell Catalysts licenses technology to competing refineries while operating its own downstream refining operations — the oil industry's version of a restaurant supply company that also runs restaurants.
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Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
1
Facilities
0
Stories
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1 input Shell Catalysts & Technologies supplies
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Hydrotreating Catalysts (Criterion)
45%Hydrocracking Catalysts
30%Process Technology Licensing
15%Specialty Refining Catalysts
10%
Intelligence
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Did you know2023
Shell Catalysts & Technologies (formerly Criterion Catalysts, formed 1988) sells CENTERA GT® CoMo hydrotreating catalysts to the same refineries that compete with Shell's own downstream operations. Shell is simultaneously one of the world's largest crude oil refining companies and one of the world's largest refining catalyst suppliers — selling proprietary desulfurization technology to ExxonMobil, Chevron, Valero, and Marathon, who compete directly with Shell in fuel markets. This is structurally equivalent to a restaurant supplier that also owns competing restaurants, but at the scale of global petroleum infrastructure.
Shell Catalysts & Technologies ↗Origin2023
Shell Catalysts & Technologies descends from Criterion Catalysts & Technologies, which was formed in 1988 through a three-way combination of Shell's catalyst operations, American Cyanamid's catalyst business (Cytec ancestor), and Shell International Chemical catalyst assets. The 1988 structure gave Shell's proprietary hydrotreating catalyst technology a separate commercial identity that could sell to non-Shell refiners without creating competitive intelligence sharing concerns. Criterion operated with significant market independence for decades before Shell reintegrated the business more visibly under the Shell Catalysts & Technologies banner. The hydrotreating catalysts sold under Criterion and CENTERA brands are used by Shell's refining competitors (ExxonMobil, Chevron, Valero) as well as by Shell's own refineries. Shell holds the unusual position of being a major technology licensor to the industry it competes in -- a position that requires information barriers between the catalyst sales organization and Shell's refining operations to prevent competitive intelligence leakage.
Shell Catalysts & Technologies ↗