Oil major Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) is closing a business dedicated to so-called unconventional resources, a term used by the industry to describe shale reserves, and said on Wednesday the unit’s director and U.S. Head Marvin Odum would leave.
Shell on Feb. 4 reported its lowest annual income in more than a decade and pledged further cost saving measures to deal with weak oil prices.
The Anglo-Dutch company said its shale resources unit would become part of the upstream business led by Andy Brown. Its Athabasca Oil Sands Project and Scotford Upgrader in Canada would fall under the downstream unit, headed by John Abbott.
Both Brown and Abbott are based in Europe, where Shell has headquarters and major offices in London and the Hague.
Odum, who joined Shell in 1982, will leave the company at the end of March and will be replaced as U.S. Country chairman and president by Bruce Culpepper, executive vice president for human resources.