Shell CEO van Beurden To Step Down Next Year

Shell has shortlisted four candidates to succeed Chief Executive Ben van Beurden who is preparing to step down next year after nearly a decade at the helm of the giant energy firm, two company sources told Ron Bousso of Reuters.

Photo Insert: During his tenure, van Beurden oversaw Shell's biggest acquisition in decades and steered the company through two major downturns and a pivotal move to slash greenhouse emissions.

During his tenure, van Beurden oversaw Shell's biggest acquisition in decades and steered the company through two major downturns and a pivotal move to slash greenhouse emissions – a task which will only grow in importance for his successor.

Shell's board succession committee, headed by Chairman Andrew Mackenzie, has met several times in recent months to draw up plans for van Beurden's departure and interview potential successors to the 64-year-old Dutchman, the sources said.

The successor shortlist has been narrowed down to Wael Sawan, Shell's head of integrated gas and renewables, and Huibert Vigeveno, who heads the company's refining operations downstream.

Recently appointed Chief Financial Officer Sinead Gorman and Zoe Yujnovich, head of upstream, are also seen as possible successors, the sources said.

Sawan, a Canadian national who previously headed Shell's oil and gas production business and today oversees Shell's growth into low carbon energies as well as its giant gas business, is seen as the front-runner to succeed van Beurden but no decision has been made, one source said.

The succession plans were accelerated after Mackenzie took office as chairman in May last year. The Dutchman, who joined Shell in 1983 and became CEO in January 2014, has yet to decide on an exact departure date but is expected to leave next year, the sources said.

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