Shell plans to spend $1bn (£760m) a year on its ‘New Energies’ division, which was set up last year to develop hydrogen fuel cells and biofuels that could be used by the aviation and shipping industries to cut their reliance on oil.

Shell is already the largest trader of renewable power in the US and said it would look at the role it could play as a system integrator or aggregator of renewable power in addition to its existing solar and wind power assets.

However the oil major is wary of venturing too far into unknown territory too soon.

Mr Van Beurden assured investors that its advance into low-carbon electricity would be “deliberately capped at a moderate pace”.

“I’m sure we will make mistakes, but I don’t want them to be big mistakes,” he said.

He added that the new generation of non-combustion vehicles did not “mean it’s game over” for oil. Instead, new oil projects will need to be “resilient in a world where oil has peaked”.

“When that will be is not certain. But that it will happen, we are certain,” he said.

Demand for traditional fuel was also likely to remain high in less advanced economies and in aviation and shipping, he said.