Chief financial officer Simon Henry was made the front-runner by bookmaker Paddy Power, despite saying it would be ‘inappropriate’ to discuss his candidacy. The Anglo-Dutch firm has not had a British boss since Sir Philip Watts left in disgrace in 2004 after Shell overstated its oil reserves.
By Rob Davies: PUBLISHED: 22:14, 2 May 2013 | UPDATED: 22:30, 2 May 2013
Shell boss Peter Voser has announced his retirement at 55, sparking a succession race that could put a Briton in charge of Europe’s largest oil firm for the first time in nearly a decade.
Chief financial officer Simon Henry was made the front-runner by bookmaker Paddy Power, despite saying it would be ‘inappropriate’ to discuss his candidacy.
Centrica chief Sam Laidlaw is also in the frame, alongside a host of Shell ‘lifers’ in various executive positions.
The Anglo-Dutch firm has not had a British boss since Sir Philip Watts left in disgrace in 2004 after Shell overstated its oil reserves.
Voser, who will step down in 2014, told staff he wanted a ‘change in lifestyle’ and to spend more time with his family.
He revealed his retirement, which came as a surprise to analysts, alongside a 4 per cent increase in first-quarter profit to £5.1billion. He raised the dividend 5 per cent to 29p per share.
Shell was boosted by high oil and gas prices, as Europeans turned up their thermostats in the unusually cold winter.
Production was flat at 3.6million barrels a day, but would have been up 2 per cent were it not for the decision to shut down a major pipeline in the Niger delta due to frequent oil theft.
Output was boosted by 175,000 barrels a day by new projects including the £12billion Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar.
‘Upstream’ earnings, from oil production and sales, were down 13 per cent to £3.7billion as sales of oil fell by 7 per cent. Shell, which produces more gas than oil, also said higher exploration costs hit profit.
High profit margins from refining and a better profit from oil trading boosted ‘downstream’ earnings by 28 per cent to £1.1billion.
Voser will leave with a pension pot worth £12.5million and share options worth around £1.75million at yesterday’s closing price of £22.03, down 10.5p. He owns 426,638 shares worth £9.6million at the same share price.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
