Royal Dutch/Shell Group operates in the Crude petroleum and natural gas sector. Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) is an independent oil and gas company. The Company owns, directly or indirectly, investments in the numerous companies constituting the Group. Shell is engaged worldwide in the aspects of the oil and gas industry and also has interests in chemicals and other energy-related businesses. The Company operates in three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Corporate. Its Upstream business explores for and extracts crude oil and natural gas, often in joint ventures with international and national oil companies. Shell's Downstream segment turns crude oil into a range of refined products, which are moved and marketed worldwide for domestic, industrial and transport use. The Corporate segment covers the non-operating activities supporting Shell. During the year ended December 31, 2009, it acquired a 40% interest in the Alam El Shawish West concession, located in the Egyptian western desert. In our complete report available for purchase the company is compared to: Glencore International PLC, ENI - Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi and Statoil ASA.