Shell chief Peter Voser stands down as oil company posts profit rise

Voser announces plan to leave Anglo-Dutch oil giant next year, alongside small rise in first-quarter profits to $8bn

Peter Voser, the chief executive and architect of Shell's recent financial success, has unexpectedly announced plans to stand down, less than four years into the job.

The move came as the Anglo-Dutch oil group unveiled a 4% increase, to $8bn (£5bn), in its first quarter profits and raised the dividend a further 5% to 45 cents per share.

54-year old Voser said he wanted a "change of lifestyle" and to spend more time with his family. He is scheduled to retire from Shell in the first half of next year with a pension pot worth almost $20m.

There was immediate speculation he may be lined up for the job of chairman at Swiss pharmacuetical group Roche, where he is already a non-executive director.

Meanwhile current chief financial officer, Simon Henry, said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on whether he would try to follow Voser's path from finance to the top job.

Peter Voser has been chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell for four years.

 If Henry takes over he would be the first British boss of Shell since Philip Watts left in 2004 in the wake of a scandal over the wrong booking of oil reserves.

Voser, 54, has spent almost 25 years in total at Royal Dutch Shell, having left in the middle of his career there only to return later.

On Thursday he said: "After such an exciting executive career I feel it is time for a change in my lifestyle and I am looking forward to have more time available for my family and private life," he said.

Shell's chairman, Jorma Ollila, said Voser's reign over the past four years had been "impressive", reorganising the company, delivering growth, and developing a clear forward strategy with a strong portfolio of new options.

Analysts generally agreed. Peter Hutton, energy analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said in a research note that the quarerly results were "solid" and he was full of praise for the outgoing chief executive.

"Peter Voser leaves Shell in a much stronger position than when he arrived. The company still needs to steer through LNG optionality to bring greater clarity, in our view, but he has brought real focus to the business. The testament to a strong legacy will be a smooth transition to his successor.

Neill Morton at Investec Securities added that Voser's exit was a surprise: "He is only 54 years old and Shell is portraying this is as a lifestyle choice."

Shell also reported revenues of $115bn in the first three months of 2013, roughly as much as the cost of running the NHS until the end of the year.

The $115bn revenues recorded by Shell were lower than the almost $120bn for the same quarter of 2012, although that was restated for accounting reasons.

Oil and gas production rose 2% to 3.5m barrels of oil equivalents – but that was excluding the impact of divestments, production sharing agreements and security problems onshore Nigeria.

Voser said the company had also spent $1.2bn buying back its shares in the last quarter.

The company has benefited from strong crude prices, although the global price of oil has in recent days fallen through the $100 a barrel level. This was exacerbated by weak manufacturing data from the US and China, prompting fears of a downturn in the global economy.

On a media conference call, Henry said the company was well placed for the recent fall in prices.

"We also think there are quite few players in the market, quite a few companies, who actually have bet the farm on 64.2 pounds-plus oil prices. We don't," he said. "We're structured around a lower oil price so it is not bad for us," he added.

Henry indicated that the lower oil prices might drive down asset values and give opportunities for takeovers. Shell has periodically been linked with a purchase of BP whose share price has continued to lag because of fallout from the US Gulf oil blowout.

But Simon said: "We dont look at larger companies because they come with a smorgasbord of assets that we don't want ... [we are] more focused on smaller companies."

Shell said it was pressing ahead with shale drilling from China to Argentina but was not currently thinking about fracking in Britain or Europe.

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Article source : http://www.guardian.co.uk