Shell appoints renewables chief Wael Sawan as new CEO

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Energy giant Shell has named company insider Wael Sawan as its new CEO, replacing Ben van Beurden who will step down at the end of 2022, the company announced Thursday.

According to a statement, Wael's appointment is effective January 1, 2023, when he will also join Shell's board of directors.

Sawan, a 48-year-old Lebanon-born Canadian, is currently the director of Integrated Gas and Renewable and Energy Solutions (R&ES). He was said to be the favourite to succeed the 64-year-old Dutchman.

Shell said van Beurden would continue working as an adviser to the board until June, after which he would leave the group. He joined Shell in 1983 and has been CEO since 2014.

"It has been a privilege and an honor to have served Shell for nearly four decades and to lead the company for the past nine years," van Beurden said in the statement.

"I have great confidence in Wael as my successor. He is a smart, principled and dynamic leader, who I know will continue to serve Shell with conviction and dedication," he added.

Sawan was only appointed as director R&ES in October 2021, having previously headed Shell's upstream business.

Sawan joined Shell in 1997 and worked at Shell's Oman and Qatar businesses, where he managed the Pearl Gas-To-Liquids plant, after which he moved to the US and managed Shell's Deep-Water business from Houston.

He became Upstream Director and a member of the Executive Committee of Royal Dutch Shell in July 2019.