|
Powell, a geologist who joined Shell in 1990 and a vocal
supporter for strengthening female involvement in the sector,
will depart on February 13 and become managing director of
Brunei Shell Petroleum the following month, according to a Shell
spokeswoman.
Her departure is part of a broad reshuffle of senior positions
following the completion of Shell's $54 billion acquisition of
BG Group in February 2016.
Those include the appointment of Jessica Uhl as chief financial
officer, who will replace Simon Henry in March as well as the
appointment of Gerard Paulides, who oversaw the BG merger, as
head of investor relations.
Powell will be replaced by current upstream strategy vice
president Marc Gerrits, who started his career in Shell in 1986
as an exploration geologist in Australia.
In an interview with Reuters last month, Powell described
Shell's shift away from complex and costly exploration projects
in "frontier" areas such as Alaska to areas closer to the
company's existing production such as Malaysia and Brunei.
Last year, Shell angered investors when it wrote down $7 billion
after failing to find any oil or gas in the Chukchi Sea off
Alaska's northwest coast.
This followed years of complex work and a rig accident that drew
heavy criticism from environmental activists.
Following the sharp drop in oil prices since mid-2014, Shell
slashed its exploration budget to less than $2 billion a year
from around $5 billion.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
