Shell CEO sees no reason for panic over economy

By Alex Lawler

DAVOS (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSa.L) Chief Executive said on Thursday he saw no reason to panic about the world economic outlook, saying energy demand growth this year would be higher than 2007.

The comments from the head of the world's second-largest fully publicly traded oil company by market value are more upbeat than some political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"I look at the energy industry, and of course we look at the total economic climate, but we don't see any reason for panic," Jeroen van der Veer told Reuters.

"I don't see a real reason for a kind of panic. There may be a bit of slower growth," he said of the U.S. economy.

"Think about the Far East and the Middle East, there's lots of economic growth. I expect positive economic growth for Europe."

"We expect total energy demand in the year 2008 to be higher than the year 2007. That's very relevant for our industry."

Concern about a U.S. economic slowdown has been hitting markets from equities to commodities. Others at the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos are more gloomy about the outlook.

"I can't understand all this talk that the turmoil in the financial markets is not going to affect the real economy," billionaire investor George Soros told Reuters.