Shell appoints new chairman

Royal Dutch Shell announced that Wael Sawan has been appointed Executive Vice President, Chairman of Qatar Shell and Managing Director for the Pearl GTL Project effective 1st April 2012. According to a press statement issued by the company, Wael succeeds Andy Brown who was recently named as Director of Upstream International, Royal Dutch Shell. Commenting on his appointment, Wael said "I am particularly proud of the depth of our partnership with QP and the State of Qatar and am committed to growing that further in the coming years". He added that he will place great emphasis on continuing Shell's efforts in support of the Qatar National Vision 2030, across the economic, environmental, human and social pillars. Wael will be responsible for leading all activities of Shell in Qatar. These consist of the Pearl gas to liquids (GTL) project, the flagship $18   19 billion dollar joint development between QP and Shell and Qatargas 4 the LNG joint venture between QP (70%) and Shell (30%). Holding dual Lebanese/Canadian nationality, Wael graduated with a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from McGill University in Canada and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He started his Shell career as a project engineer in Oman in 1997. In late 2008, Wael was appointed Vice President for Commercial, New Business Development and LNG in Qatar Shell and has been heavily involved in all Shell's major activities in Qatar. (QNA)