Shell announces major reorganization

On May 27 Shell announced management and organizational changes that will take effect on July 1, when Peter Voser takes over from Jeroen van der Veer as chief executive officer.

The company’s current three upstream business units — Exploration and Production, Gas and Power and Oil Sands — will be re-jigged as two businesses: Upstream Americas, covering North and South America, and Upstream International, covering the rest of the world, the company said. Marvin Odum, currently executive vice president of Exploration and Production Americas, will become director of Upstream Americas. Malcolm Brinded, currently executive director of Exploration and Production, will become executive director of Upstream International.

A Trading and Alternative Energy business unit will be added to Shell’s downstream refining, marketing and chemicals businesses, although wind energy will be part of the company’s upstream businesses. A new business, Projects and Technology, will handle all of Shell’s project delivery, technical services and technology capability for the company’s upstream and downstream businesses, as well as overseeing the company’s safety and environmental performance. And corporate functions such as human resources will be moved directly into the individual business units, or consolidated into the portfolios of the company’s chief financial officer and human resources director.

“This new structure will increase accountability in the company and improve Shell’s performance on delivering new projects and developing new technologies,” Voser said. “These changes will increase our focus, accelerate our plans to reduce complexity, corporate overheads and costs, and result in faster decision-making and delivery.”

“We have made good progress on simplification and improving efficiency in recent years, but the competition is not standing still, and neither is Shell,” said van der Veer.

—Alan Bailey