Shell’s new CEO Wael Sawan, who took office on January 1, has created a senior role of chief of staff as part of a management overhaul to improve performance after technical problems and other disruption, Reuters reported, citing three company sources.
The chief of staff, the first in Shell’s 115-year-old history, is the biggest change Sawan has made to top management in his nearly 2 months as CEO.
The newly-created chief of staff role will involve coordinating and overseeing operations between Shell’s different businesses to reduce costs and tackle performance issues that weighed on Shell’s profits in recent years, the sources said.
Those problems included repeated outages at its Prelude liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility off the western coast of Australia and a major malfunction at its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands, Europe’s largest, when supplies were strained in the initial aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
A Shell spokesperson confirmed the role has been created, without adding details.
Sawan announced at the end of January a major change to Shell’s structure, combining Shell’s oil and gas production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) divisions under current Upstream Director Zoe Yujnovich. Renewable energy operations will come under oil refining and marketing operations led by current Downstream Director Huibert Vigeveno.
Sawan will officially announce Shell’s long-term strategy in June.