Lawrence to depart Shell mid-year

David Lawrence, Shell’s executive vice president for exploration and commercial in America, will leave Shell in mid-year.

“Mr. Lawrence’s departure from Shell is by mutual consent,” Shell spokesman Curtis Smith told Petroleum News in a March 28 email.

Smith said that, as Shell’s operations in North America continue to grow, the company has decided to re-structure its exploration and commercial operations into three organizations, each with an executive vice president at its head. The three new organizations will include: exploration; the Arctic; and commercial, new business development and integrated gas, Smith said.

A recently published report by the U.S. Department of the Interior into Shell’s 2012 exploration drilling program in Alaska found fault with Shell’s management oversight of the company’s contractors, following a series of incidents culminating in the grounding of the company’s floating drilling platform, the Kulluk.

—Alan Bailey