LNG Deal Ushers in Tighter Shell Spending Regime

A Shell spokeswoman said the accounting had been split because a part of the transaction was done in the 2013 calendar year, and it "involved a number of legal entities in various locations and hence requires several steps to complete."

Organic Focus

Projects like Arrow and the GTL plant are considered as "organic" spending - unlike the Repsol acquisition and any divestment of Woodside.

And looking behind the headline figures, analysts say it is organic spending that investors are most concerned about, since these are the areas where cost inflation, project delays and other factors can blow strategy off course.

Shell has no four-year target for organic spending, but Henry estimated 2013 organic spending at $36 billion. He said this part of the total was "not going to go down rapidly because that would be the best way to destroy value in our portfolio."

Van Beurden will face investors on Jan. 30 as the company reports fourth-quarter results, and on March 13 at a planned investor day.

In a separate announcement on Thursday, Shell revealed that Voser, who surprised investors last year with news of his early retirement, will be repatriated to his native Switzerland, where he will work for the local subsidiary on his full group chief executive pay and with a full pro-rata bonus.

Voser's retirement was announced on May 2, when Shell said he would step down "in the first half".