Shell Appoints New Chairman to Navigate Energy Transition

A Scottish-born geologist, Mr. Mackenzie is best known as the former chief executive of BHP Group Ltd., one of the world’s largest mining companies, which he ran for six years to 2019. During his tenure at BHP, he is credited with simplifying its business, overseeing the sale of its U.S. shale-gas assets and carving out several mining operations into a new company called South32 Ltd.

Before that, Mr. Mackenzie worked at rival miner Rio Tinto PLC, and previously spent 22 years at BP PLC, in areas including research and development, petrochemicals, and exploration and production.

Mr. Mackenzie’s appointment at Shell comes as many big oil companies are grappling with the transition away from fossil fuels toward lower-carbon energy like wind and solar power. Governments and companies are increasingly moving to reduce reliance on fossil fuels to curb carbon emissions, while growing technologies like electric vehicles are expected to dampen future demand for diesel and gasoline.

Last month Shell said it planned to reduce oil production, ending a decades-old strategy centered on boosting oil and gas output. Instead, the company said it would focus on growing the amount of electricity it sells and boosting its low-carbon energy activities such as electric-vehicle charging.

Mining, like oil and gas, has also faced scrutiny over emissions, particularly the pollution caused by customers using the commodities it produces. While at BHP, Mr. Mackenzie laid the foundations for medium-term decarbonization goals and pledged to invest millions of dollars to develop technologies to help customers reduce emissions.

The BHP role also gave Mr. Mackenzie experience in the running of a business that has sprawling global operations and exposure to sometimes volatile commodity markets.

Shell and its peers are also seeking to recover from one of their worst years on record after the pandemic decimated energy demand, sending oil prices lower. The company moved quickly to reduce costs, cutting thousands of jobs, and wrote down the value of its assets by billions of dollars.

Shell also cut its dividend for the first time since World War II, a move that Mr. Holliday—who departs after six years as chairman—described as the most difficult decision he had experienced on a company board. Shell would have needed to borrow money to sustain the payout otherwise, he wrote in the company’s annual report published Thursday.

Mr. Mackenzie said it was a “pivotal time for the industry and wider society” and that he looked forward to working to “accelerate Shell’s transition into a net-zero emissions energy business.”

Write to Sarah McFarlane at [email protected]