Oil firms have 10 years to change strategy or face 'short, brutish end'

Business models employed by multinationals such as Shell and BP are no longer fit for purpose, warns energy expert

International oil companies such as Shell and BP must completely change their business model or face a "nasty, brutish and short" end within 10 years, one of Britain's most influential energy experts has warned.

Paul Stephens, a fellow at Chatham House thinktank, said in a research paper the oil "majors" were no longer fit for purpose - hit by low crude prices, tightening climate change regulations and their own wrongheaded strategies.