Shell’s Renewables Boss to Leave after CEO’s Strategy Shift

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Shell’s head of renewable generation, Thomas Brostrom, is leaving the company, a spokesperson has said, weeks after the Chief Executive Officer,  Wael Sawan scaled back the company’s energy transition plans.

Brostrom joined Shell from offshore wind giant Orsted in August 2021 to head offshore wind as the company planned to rapidly grow its wind and solar operations as part of a strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions under previous CEO Ben van Beurden.

Brostrom quickly became head of renewables in February 2022 after Elisabeth Brinton stepped down less than two years after taking the reins, Reuters reported.

Chief Executive Sawan, who took office in January, announced on June 14 a shift back to oil and gas production while paring back investments in renewables following investor pressure to focus on the most profitable businesses.

Sawan also introduced a new structure to the company’s top leadership that eliminated Brostrom’s role and split it into regions.

“Thomas Brostrøm has elected to leave Shell to pursue an external opportunity,” the company said.

The company was involved in nearly an eighth of Russia’s shipborne gas exports in 2022, according to analysis from campaign group Global Witness.

Oleg Ustenko, an adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, accused Shell of accepting “blood money”.

Shell said the trades were the result of “long-term contractual commitments” and do not violate laws or sanctions.

As recently as 9 May, a vast tanker capable of carrying more than 160,000 cubic metres of gas compressed into liquid form – liquefied natural gas or LNG – pulled out of the port of Sabetta, on the Yamal peninsula in Russia’s far north, the report said.

That cargo was purchased by Shell before heading onwards to its ultimate destination, Hong Kong.

It is one of eight LNG cargoes that Shell has bought from Yamal this year, according to data from the Kpler database analysed by Global Witness.

Last year Shell accounted for 12 per cent of Russia’s seaborne LNG trade, Global Witness calculated, and was among the top five traders of Russian-originated LNG that year.