Mr van Beurden “has been in the vanguard for the transition of Shell to a net-zero emissions energy business”, chairman Andrew Mackenzie said in a statement on Thursday. “Wael Sawan is an exceptional leader, with all the qualities needed to drive Shell safely and profitably through its next phase of transition and growth.”
Despite being a Dutch national who studied chemical engineering at Delft University of Technology, Mr van Beurden led Shell to a major overhaul of its legal structure that relocated its headquarters from the Netherlands to London and dropped “Royal Dutch” from its name.
“He’s dealt with multiple crises: a downturn in the oil price, Covid, and no Shell CEO wants to be the one who cuts the dividend,” Mr Borkhataria said. “If you look at the last 10 years, there’s been a big change in this period in the ability to generate free cash flow and that’s all under Ben.”
IrishTimes 💰