Top female Marjan van Loon says goodbye as top boss at Shell Netherlands after seven years. His position will be taken over on April 1 by Frans Everts, who has worked for Shell for 33 years in various roles around the world.

The 57-year-old Van Loon announced his departure in February, saying he would “enjoy something other than work”. Van Loon worked for Shell for a total of 34 years and experienced some turbulent years as head of the group’s Dutch oil and gas arm. In 2018, for example, there was political outrage over an agreement between Shell and the Tax and Customs Office regarding the payment of dividend taxes. Shell’s headquarters has also moved to the UK. This made the group completely British on paper.

As a shareholder of NAM, Shell was also responsible for many years for gas extraction in Groningen, which later turned out to be causing an earthquake. In his WNL Op Zondag program, Van Loon recently said that the Groningen gas field should be closed entirely this year. The company is now also paying for damage repairs and strengthening of houses in the earthquake area.

New course

Under Van Loon, Shell said it was also the first major group to support the Climate Agreement. However, in 2021, Milieudefensie won a lawsuit against the group for not reducing CO2 emissions enough. Milieudefensie therefore hopes for a ‘new path for Shell Netherlands’ with Everts as the top man. In his new role, he has stated he wants to continue working on energy transitions.