Ben van Beurden, who has been at the helm of the FTSE 100 company for almost a decade, is preparing to step down next year, Reuters reports. His departure comes hot on the heels of Shell’s relocation of its headquarters from London to the Netherlands and at the height of an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has fueled record profits for the company. Shell’s board succession committee, led by chairman Andrew Mackenzie, is said to have met several times to draw up a list of potential candidates to succeed Mr van Beurden. Wael Sawan, head of Shell’s integrated gas and renewables, is considered the first. Huibert Vigevenor, who heads the company’s downstream refining operations, is also on the list, along with chief financial officer Sinead Gorman and head of upstream Zoe Vujnovich.
What happened in the night
Hong Kong stocks were lower early this morning, with the Hang Seng index down 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.2 percent and the Shenzhen Composite on China’s second exchange gained 0.3 percent. Tokyo stocks moved lower. Stocks had opened slightly higher, but immediately after the open, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.2 percent, while the broader Topix index fell 0.6 percent.
It’s coming today
Finance: Ashmore (full year results) Economics: Factory orders, non-farm payrolls and earnings (US), factory orders (US), producer price index (EU)
