While Shell was once seen as a model of good management, some investors have in recent years criticised its complicated two-company structure: Royal Dutch Petroleum, based in the Netherlands, owns 60% of the group and London-based Shell Transport and Trading the remaining 40%, with operational management reporting to both boards.

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But today Professor Andy Cooper and his team of chemists at the University of Liverpool in England are figuring out how it can help energy companies like BP or Shell store and transport methane gas, the principle component of natural gas.

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