The company's chief financial officer Simon Henry told the newspaper that Shell is cutting back its exposure to European credit risk in the worst-hit economies and putting a higher price on doing business with the region's peripheral nations.

"There's been a shift in our willingness to take credit risk in Europe. The crisis has impacted our willingness to afford credit," Henry is quoted as saying.

Henry is cited as saying that the Anglo-Dutch oil major would rather deposit $15 billion of cash in non-European assets, such as U.S. Treasuries and U.S. bank accounts.

The firm is forced to keep some money in Europe to fund its operations, but is keeping the bulk of its reserve liquidity out of the euro zone to avoid growing macroeconomic risk, the report said.

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency