Royal Dutch Shell plc Announces New Senior Management Structure

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Royal Dutch
Shell plc ("Shell") (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) today announced a series of
changes to senior management roles and responsibilities, aimed at sharper
focus on operating performance and technology. The changes will be effective
as of 1st July 2009.
Peter Voser, who takes over from Jeroen van der Veer as Chief Executive
Officer on 1st July 2009 said "this new structure will increase
accountability in the company, and improve Shell's performance on delivering
new projects and developing new technologies."
He continued "these changes will increase our focus, accelerate our plans
to reduce complexity, corporate overheads and costs, and result in faster
decision-making and delivery."
Shell's Upstream activities are currently managed in three separate
organizations - Exploration & Production, Gas & Power, and Oil Sands.
Upstream will now consist of two businesses: Upstream Americas covering North
and South America, and Upstream International covering the rest of the world.
Marvin Odum, currently Shell's Executive Vice President for EP Americas, will
become Director for Upstream Americas. Malcolm Brinded, currently Shell's
Executive Director Exploration & Production, will become Executive Director
of Upstream International.
There will also be changes in Downstream. In addition to the Refining,
Marketing and Chemicals businesses, the Downstream portfolio will be expanded
to include Trading and Alternative Energy activities in Shell, excluding
Wind, which will be part of Upstream. Downstream will continue to be led by
Mark Williams as Director.
A new business - Projects & Technology - will combine all of Shell's
major project delivery, technical services and technology capability covering
both upstream and downstream. It will also oversee Shell's safety and
environment performance. Matthias Bichsel, who is currently Shell's Executive
Vice President for Exploration & Production Technology, will be the Director
of this business.
Corporate functions will be refocused, with activities reallocated
directly into the businesses, or consolidated into the portfolios of the
Chief Financial Officer, Simon Henry, and the Human Resources Director (to be
re-titled Chief Human Resources & Corporate Officer), Hugh Mitchell. Beat
Hess continues as General Council, and completes the re-shaped Executive
Committee.
Shell's Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer commented "we have made good
progress on simplification and improving efficiency in recent years, but the
competition is not standing still, and neither is Shell."
Peter Voser continued "the industry, and Shell, faces considerable
challenges, from high costs, volatile energy prices, and competition for new
projects".
He continued "we must build on our recent momentum, improve our operating
performance and increase the pace of strategy execution, to raise our
competitive position. The changes we have announced will have a major impact
on the organization. We will speed up our decision-making, and increase both
personal responsibility and personal accountability". Notes for Editors
Following this reorganization, effective 1st July 2009, the Executive
Committee of Shell will comprise CEO Peter Voser, CFO Simon Henry, Executive
Director Upstream International Malcolm Brinded, Upstream Americas Director
Marvin Odum, Downstream Director Mark Williams, Projects & Technology
Director Matthias Bichsel, Human Resources and Chief Corporate Officer Hugh
Mitchell, General Council Beat Hess. Roxanne Decyk, currently Shell's
Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Development Director, will step down from
the Executive Committee, and will head up Shell's Government Affairs
department based in Washington, reporting to the CEO. Three Executive
Committee members will be on the Board: CEO, CFO and Executive Director
Upstream International.
Matthias Bichsel joined Shell in 1980 after obtaining a doctorate in
geology from University of Basel, Switzerland.
He has worked for Shell companies in Bangladesh, Oman, Canada, Indonesia,
the US and The Netherlands. In 1995, he was selected as director of Petroleum
Development Oman looking after exploration and deep oil field developments.
In 1999, he transferred to Houston as managing director of Shell Deepwater
Services involved in all aspects of Deepwater exploration and development on
a global scale. From 2002 to 2006, he managed as Executive Vice President
Shell's global exploration activities and performance.
Matthias Bichsel was appointed Executive Vice President, Technical, Shell
Exploration and Production in March 2006, where he is currently responsible
for delivering new upstream projects, and for the provision of technology
applications and research. He is a member of the American Association of
Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Marvin Odum joined Shell in 1982, and has a bachelor's degree in
mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's
degree in business administration from the University of Houston.
He has worked in a variety of upstream technology and operations
management roles in the company. He was CEO of global power company InterGen
from 2003-2005. Marvin Odum is President of Shell Oil Company and Executive
Vice President for the Americas for Shell Exploration & Production.
Odum sits on the board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute
(API) and on its Policy Committee and Executive Committee. He also serves on
the board of trustees of the National Urban League and on its Policy
Committee. He sits on the board of directors of the Council of the Americas
and is a member of the Business Roundtable.
In addition, Odum is a commissioner of The Aspen Institute Dialogue and
Commission on Arctic Climate Change and a member of the Steering Committee
for the Energy, Security, Innovation & Sustainability Initiative of The
Council On Competitiveness.
Cautionary Note
The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns
investments are separate entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell
group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where
references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general.
Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to
subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are
also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular
company or companies. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell
companies" as used in this announcement refer to companies in which Royal
Dutch Shell either directly or indirectly has control, by having either a
majority of the voting rights or the right to exercise a controlling
influence. The companies in which Shell has significant influence but not
control are referred to as "associated companies" or "associates" and
companies in which Shell has joint control are referred to as "jointly
controlled entities". In this announcement, associates and jointly controlled
entities are also referred to as "equity-accounted investments". The term
"Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or
indirect (for example, through our 34% shareholding in Woodside Petroleum
Ltd.) ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company,
after exclusion of all third-party interest.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning the
financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch
Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be
deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
statements of future expectations that are based on management's current
expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to
differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements.
Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning
the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements
expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts,
projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified
by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'',
''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'',
''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''will'', ''seek'',
''target'', ''risks'', ''goals'', ''should'' and similar terms and phrases.
There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of
Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from
those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this
announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude
oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for the Group's products; (c)
currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserve
estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g)
environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the
identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and
successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of
doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international
sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including
potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of
reserves; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries
and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and
renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or
advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for
shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking
statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their
entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this
section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained
in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2008 (available
at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov ). These factors also should be
considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of
the date of this announcement, 27th May 2009. Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor
any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise
any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events
or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ
materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking
statements contained in this announcement.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil
and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved
reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive
formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing
economic and operating conditions. We use certain terms in this announcement
that SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the
SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form
20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website http://www.sec.gov. You
can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.
SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc

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