Shell's head of downstream and renewables, Huibert Vigeveno, will step down after 30 years with the energy major and be replaced by insider Machteld de Haan, the company said on Thursday.

De Haan, who joined Shell in 1998 and has been executive vice president of Shell's chemicals and products business since 2023, will take on the role on April 1.

Shell also said that head of trading Andrew Smith, who previously reported directly to Vigeveno, will be appointed director and join the executive committee alongside de Haan, in a sign of the growing importance of oil, gas and power trading under CEO Wael Sawan.

Shell is the world's largest energy trader. Sawan aims to make trading a key engine of the company's energy transition strategy as he pulls back from lower-return renewables assets.

Trading is, however, a volatile business that can deliver huge profits and losses, depending on a company's positions and market conditions.

Vigeveno had headed the refining and marketing division since 2020. In 2023 Shell added its renewable operations to the division. He was seen as a candidate to succeed CEO Ben van Beurden, who left in 2020.

Shell has sharply scaled back its refining operations from a peak of around 50 plants at the start of the millennium to nine today due to weakening profit margins, high carbon emissions and growing competition from new plants. It aims to further reduce its interests in refining to five sites.

Last year it sold its refining and chemicals hub in Singapore, one of the world's largest. It is also trying to sell a stake in a German refinery and plans to shut down another plant in Wesseling, Germany. (Reuters)

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