Liam Denning, Columnist

Big Energy Just LOVES the Little Guy

In a world of shrinking demand growth, going downstream looks more appealing.

June 30, 2017 at 11:00 AM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

1498768924_GettyImages-72319755 — Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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Andrew Vesey, CEO of Australian utility AGL Resources Ltd., made an interesting comment at a recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance summit in New York:

There are signs of this cropping up all over. Royal Dutch Shell Plc has just launched a service, TapUp, that lets you order a refill for your car at home rather than drive to a gas station. Rival BP Plc earlier this month hosted an investor day dedicated entirely to the downstream part of its business -- that is, things like chemicals and retail that are closer to the customer -- for the first time in six years.