Shell Oil, the U.S. arm of the Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell, announced last Tuesday it will vacate One Shell Plaza in downtown Houston and move those employees to the company's campuses in west Houston. Roughly 3,400 employees will move from the downtown Houston offices to Shell's Woodcreek campus and its Shell Technology Center in the first quarter 2017, a spokesperson said. Only employees in Shell's trading and supply division at 1000 Main will remain downtown.

The decision to vacate One Shell Plaza was made "in an effort to meet the ever-changing market conditions and optimize resources for future opportunities," the Shell spokesperson said.

"In an effort to meet the ever changing market conditions and optimize resources for future opportunities, Shell will move all staff in the Houston Central Business District, with the exception of those in Trading, to Shell-owned facilities on the west side of the city, including both Woodcreek and the Shell Technology Center. The changes will be taken into effect the first quarter of 2017.

Shell values our position and presence in the Houston area - for our ongoing business, offshore and onshore training needs, and long-time relationships in the community. Houston also remains critical to our core business; it's where we have much of our expertise, including engineering and operations support, as well two technology/research centers, the spokesperson said.