Shell has announced that Robin Mooldijk, President of Projects and Technology, will step down effective February 28, 2026.
Following his departure, Shell’s executive committee will be reduced in size, with no immediate successor named for the role. The Projects and Technology function oversees project delivery, engineering, and technology across Shell’s global portfolio.
Shell stated that the change is part of its ongoing leadership updates and organizational management.
@px I say it all the time. Bo-m Cr--kers….see I didn’t get silenced.
@m2 probably not the mastermind, that implies intelligence, but was definitely involved and gave the 👍 along with the other mindless droogs on the EC.
@pw so I can’t type Bo o m and crac kers now?
@ps agreed on the reliability issues but with effective leadership we could have upgraded it and made it profitable. You’re right, never invested. Refining is a much better hedge to oil price drop than chemicals. After the ethane bo-m and the rapid buildout of ethane cr--kers, we had all the warning signs of glut. We spoke up about it as chemicals was getting investment and refineries were barely treading water while trading pillaged all profit. Now the world’s ethylene capacity is between 70-80% utilization. NA is around mid 80% but EU dips below 60% often. Probably worse now with Russia problems. Ethylene or EO demand isn’t going to use up that balance for at least 10 years according to Reuters, S&P and woodmac.
@pr it was a very reliable refinery minus H-Oil, but that unit was a beast when it ran. If they would have built the Coker like they wanted to that refinery would be making a ki-ling right now. Amazing how Shell never invested in any of its refineries unless mandated by the government.
@pq agreed, there were several buyers. This stuff is easy to lookup even before AI. Stop posting emotionally driven comments (directed at other poster not you). We turned down $1.75 B offer. Another 1.25B was turned down as well. I get hindsight but man I wish we still had it for the H-oil unit and a trading group with some guts to buy Venezuelan crude right now.
@pn no there were buyers but all the buyers wanted the additional land as well and Shell wanted to keep the land. So all the buyers walked since they would only get the refinery and none of the additional land. In hindsight, Shell should have just sold the refinery and let it be someone else’s problem. No no one would buy it and Shell is left with demo’ing the site and handling the remediation. Amazing how many billions have been wasted on a site other companies wanted.
we literally turned convent off with no buyer
absolutely hilarious. shell leadership loves ditching assets at a loss. as long as it pumps EPS YL does it. consequences be damned
@m4 Yep. Before shell fully owned Convent, the site made money. Once Shell fully owned the site, it lost money as that was Tradings model to take most of profits, so the refineries were in the red for taxes. However, Shell was siloed and didn’t understand that Trading couldn’t make all the profit without the physical sites. After Convent shutdown and the other sales around 2020, the traders actually had to a lot of work to make money since they no longer had physical assets to move products/crudes around.
vitol is such an awesome company
it’s so like wael to sell assets while claiming to love trading.
@md they didn’t send you a Christmas card?
Can Robin take Wael with him as well? Can’t stand either of these guys
@m2 that was driven by Huibert. He was a marketing guy without refining background. He convinced Peter Voser that trading could make money without physical assets. Wiped out several sites by the time Andrew Smith spoke up loud enough. That’s why trading is its own presidency now with direct line to Wael. Vitol is a good example. They started in 1990, bought their first refinery in 1994-95. Kept buying up until last year. Even bought one from us in 2014. Trading needs physical assets to make high(er) profit and to manage volatility with asset-backed trade deals. That’s why Vitol bought and are kicking butt as the most profitable trading house because of their physical assets. Before this new org, our trading group magically made a ton of money but would blame our refineries for eating into margin with poor reliability. Wasn’t the case at all, Huibert was obtuse in his approach. Overall, the number of trading houses with no physical assets is shrinking. They understand the value of physical assets. Hopefully we understand this now and keep the remaining assets. If we lose Norco, we can kiss trading in the Americas goodbye. Same goes for EU if we give up Pernis. Andrew said he loves the assets and needs them to remain during his last townhall. We’ll see if Wael understands and believes it.
@kn I’m not sure Robin was the mastermind behind selling refineries.
If you dig deep into this guys past you’ll see he orchestrated or was directly involved in almost all the sales of Shell refineries since the early 2000s until he took over P&T a few years back when Yuri left. I guess we ran out of refineries to sell. People in P&T thought they were his next conquest. Maybe they can breathe a little easier for now.
I met him once. Not impressed at all. Just another Dutchman trying to flex his power here in the states.
Well good riddance and DO let the door hit you in the a$$ on your way out with your golden parachute.
Good riddance
@bg
funded also by shareholders’ money from failed projects that he and other leadership oversaw while continuing to collect massive paychecks and other compensation on top of golden parachute.
right, it’s not owen. it’s some other guy robert
and they specifically said that won’t mean he is an EC member now
@bg what was the damage Robin inflicted?
Is constant chaos, uncertainty and roiling of an organization really the way to run an enterprise?
Doesn’t work in companies; doesn’t work in governments.
@dq Owen won’t be reporting to Wael, majority of operations is already outsourced
Some people on here clearly know their facts
@d4 Owen will love reporting directly to Wael, dreams come true... Until Wael confronts him that 95% of AI investments in companies are not of any proofen value according to MIT in their report.
And Owen has to answer why we have so high Opex costs of stuff you can easy outsource to Amazon/Microsoft and other IT infrastructure suppliers, they will deliver 50% cheaper and much faster.
gonna be honest, have never understood the difference between the two
according to the email wael will act as their EVP which was actually announced quite some time ago
no changes until july except EVPs
What will happen to the enormous cost center called IDSO educating all staff on AI portfolio management? Where will they report into? What happens with IDE (IT Development?)
Good riddance, Robin. The damage you inflicted at Shell will be your legacy. May no one be foolish enough to hire you. And may the golden parachute, funded by waves of staff reductions and destruction, fail to cushion your fall.
Do your best to be prepared. That might mean staying in role with less support, finding a new role in Shell, or finding a role outside of Shell. $ave your money in case this takes more time.
What did everyone think was going to happen to a role called P&T director when there was no longer a business unit called P&T?
This is an absolute nothing burger announcement. The real changes still begin in July. Maybe your EVP will change but does that really affect you before July? No.
P&T gone asap