Shell boss to retire on profit high

The company revealed Voser’s plans to retire in the first half of next year, after almost five years in the top job, as financial results released on Thursday beat expectations.

Shell posted a 3% rise in adjusted net profit (on a current cost of supplies basis and excluding one-time items) to $7.5 billion, from $7.3 billion a year ago. This result surpassed analysts’ average estimate of $6.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Voser said the results were “underpinned by Shell's growth projects, an improvement in downstream profitability, and were delivered despite a difficult security environment in Nigeria.”

In its upstream sector, Shell recorded earnings, excluding identified items, of $5.65 billion compared with $6.27 billion for the same period last year. These identified items were a net gain of $173 million compared with a net gain of $453 million for the 2012 first quarter.

The company attributed this upstream result to the ramp-up of the Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar, increased trading contributions, and higher gas realisations and tax credits being more than offset by lower liquids realisations, higher depreciation, increased operating and exploration expenses and lower earnings from liquefied natural gas ventures.

First-quarter output was on par with last year at 3.56 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Although excluding the impact of divestments, production sharing contract price effects and security impacts in Nigeria, total production was actually 2% higher this year.

Liquids production fell 2% while natural gas output rose by 3%, with the continued ramp-up of fields including Pearl GTL, Eagle Ford in the US and Pluto LNG in Australia offsetting the impact of field declines.

Equity LNG sales volumes of 5.15 million tonnes were in line with the 2012 first quarter, with Pluto LNG’s contribution being counterbalanced by frequent bunkering causing supply disruptions onshore Nigeria.

Shell said it was now planning to conduct a “structured and comprehensive review of internal and external candidates” to select a new chief executive.

An executive director since 2004 with a brief stint in the group chief financial officer role, Voser replaced the retired chief Jeroen van der Veer in July 2009.

“Peter's leadership of Shell over the last four years has been impressive, reorganising the company, delivering growth, and developing a clear forward strategy with a strong portfolio of new options,” Shell chairman Jorma Ollila said in a statement.

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Shell boss to retire on profit high

The company revealed Voser’s plans to retire in the first half of next year, after almost five years in the top job, as financial results released on Thursday beat expectations.

Shell posted a 3% rise in adjusted net profit (on a current cost of supplies basis and excluding one-time items) to $7.5 billion, from $7.3 billion a year ago. This result surpassed analysts’ average estimate of $6.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Voser said the results were “underpinned by Shell's growth projects, an improvement in downstream profitability, and were delivered despite a difficult security environment in Nigeria.”

In its upstream sector, Shell recorded earnings, excluding identified items, of $5.65 billion compared with $6.27 billion for the same period last year. These identified items were a net gain of $173 million compared with a net gain of $453 million for the 2012 first quarter.

The company attributed this upstream result to the ramp-up of the Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar, increased trading contributions, and higher gas realisations and tax credits being more than offset by lower liquids realisations, higher depreciation, increased operating and exploration expenses and lower earnings from liquefied natural gas ventures.

First-quarter output was on par with last year at 3.56 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Although excluding the impact of divestments, production sharing contract price effects and security impacts in Nigeria, total production was actually 2% higher this year.

Liquids production fell 2% while natural gas output rose by 3%, with the continued ramp-up of fields including Pearl GTL, Eagle Ford in the US and Pluto LNG in Australia offsetting the impact of field declines.

Equity LNG sales volumes of 5.15 million tonnes were in line with the 2012 first quarter, with Pluto LNG’s contribution being counterbalanced by frequent bunkering causing supply disruptions onshore Nigeria.

Shell said it was now planning to conduct a “structured and comprehensive review of internal and external candidates” to select a new chief executive.

An executive director since 2004 with a brief stint in the group chief financial officer role, Voser replaced the retired chief Jeroen van der Veer in July 2009.

“Peter's leadership of Shell over the last four years has been impressive, reorganising the company, delivering growth, and developing a clear forward strategy with a strong portfolio of new options,” Shell chairman Jorma Ollila said in a statement.

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Shell CEO Will Retire in 2014

Royal Dutch Shell plc announced Thursday that CEO Peter Voser will retire from the company during the first half of 2014. The decision is being seen as surprise move by Voser, since he has served just four years in the post.

Shell said that its board's nomination and succession committee will now lead a "structured and comprehensive" review of candidates to enable an orderly transition to a new CEO.

The departure will not mean a change in strategy for the company and Voser's decision to retire was a personal one, a Shell spokesperson told Rigzone. The company's succession committee would search both internally and externally for a candidate to replace Voser, but that an internal candidate would be preferable, the spokesperson added.

Voser commented in a statement:

"After almost 10 years as CEO and CFO and more than 25 years in Shell, I have elected to retire in the first half of 2014.

"After such an exciting executive career I feel it is time for a change in my lifestyle and I am looking forward to having more time available for my family and private life in the years to come."

Shell's first quarter results revealed that current cost of supplies (CCS) earnings for the 1Q 2013 improved 3 percent over 1Q 2012 to $7.5 billion.

In its Upstream business, the firm said that its first de-bottlenecking project for the Athabasca oil sands project in Canada has been completed. The project, in which Shell has a 60-percent stake, is expected to add some 10,000 barrels per day of capacity.

In Nigeria, the firm took the decision in 1Q 2013 to develop the deepwater project, Erha North Phase 2, some 65 miles off the Nigerian coast. This is expected to produce some 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at peak production.

In Oman, the Amal steam-enhanced oil recovery project has been brought on stream, with this project expected to ramp up to some 20,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) over the next few years.

In the United States, the firm announced its intention to form a joint venture with Kinder Morgan to develop a natural gas liquefaction plant in two phases at the existing Elba Island LNG terminal to export LNG, while it also took the final investment decision for two natural gas liquefaction units in Louisiana, U.S. and Ontario, Canada.

Elsewhere during the first quarter, Shell entered into an agreement to acquire part of Repsol's LNG portfolio outside of North America for $4.4 billion, while in the UK it completed the acquisition of a further 5.9 percent of the offshore Shiehallion field while also acquiring additional interests in the Beryl area fields.

Shell's Upstream business segment produced 3.56 million barrels of oil equivalent per day during the first quarter of 2013, compared with 3.55 million boepd during 1Q 2012.

A former engineer, Jon is an award-winning editor who has covered the technology, engineering and energy sectors since the mid-1990s. Email Jon at jmainwaring@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here

Shell CEO Will Retire in 2014

Royal Dutch Shell plc announced Thursday that CEO Peter Voser will retire from the company during the first half of 2014. The decision is being seen as surprise move by Voser, since he has served just four years in the post.

Shell said that its board's nomination and succession committee will now lead a "structured and comprehensive" review of candidates to enable an orderly transition to a new CEO.

The departure will not mean a change in strategy for the company and Voser's decision to retire was a personal one, a Shell spokesperson told Rigzone. The company's succession committee would search both internally and externally for a candidate to replace Voser, but that an internal candidate would be preferable, the spokesperson added.

Voser commented in a statement:

"After almost 10 years as CEO and CFO and more than 25 years in Shell, I have elected to retire in the first half of 2014.

"After such an exciting executive career I feel it is time for a change in my lifestyle and I am looking forward to having more time available for my family and private life in the years to come."

Shell's first quarter results revealed that current cost of supplies (CCS) earnings for the 1Q 2013 improved 3 percent over 1Q 2012 to $7.5 billion.

In its Upstream business, the firm said that its first de-bottlenecking project for the Athabasca oil sands project in Canada has been completed. The project, in which Shell has a 60-percent stake, is expected to add some 10,000 barrels per day of capacity.

In Nigeria, the firm took the decision in 1Q 2013 to develop the deepwater project, Erha North Phase 2, some 65 miles off the Nigerian coast. This is expected to produce some 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at peak production.

In Oman, the Amal steam-enhanced oil recovery project has been brought on stream, with this project expected to ramp up to some 20,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) over the next few years.

In the United States, the firm announced its intention to form a joint venture with Kinder Morgan to develop a natural gas liquefaction plant in two phases at the existing Elba Island LNG terminal to export LNG, while it also took the final investment decision for two natural gas liquefaction units in Louisiana, U.S. and Ontario, Canada.

Elsewhere during the first quarter, Shell entered into an agreement to acquire part of Repsol's LNG portfolio outside of North America for $4.4 billion, while in the UK it completed the acquisition of a further 5.9 percent of the offshore Shiehallion field while also acquiring additional interests in the Beryl area fields.

Shell's Upstream business segment produced 3.56 million barrels of oil equivalent per day during the first quarter of 2013, compared with 3.55 million boepd during 1Q 2012.

A former engineer, Jon is an award-winning editor who has covered the technology, engineering and energy sectors since the mid-1990s. Email Jon at jmainwaring@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here