Royal Dutch Shell’s decision to move its chief executive and tax residence from the Netherlands to the UK sparked dismay in The Hague and rare political cheer in London.

But the most immediate impact of the restructuring will have little to do with politics, jobs or even Shell’s tax burden. Instead, executives and analysts say, it has much more to do with the oil and gas group’s need to keep shareholders happy as it attempts a challenging shift to greener forms of energy.

The quiet understanding between investors and energy executives is that as companies invest less in oil, more money should flow back to shareholders when energy prices are high. Shell says simplifying its structure will allow it to bypass rules that limit the amount of share buybacks it can execute in any quarter.