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, Reuters news report said.
Shell declined to comment.
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.
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.
Shell has shortlisted Wael Sawan, Shell’s head of integrated gas and renewables; Huibert Vigeveno, who heads the company’s refining operations of downstream; Shell CFO Sinead Gorman and Zoe Yujnovich, head of upstream.