Wael Sawan

Sawan was born in Beirut in 1974.^[2] He grew up in Dubai, and earned a master's degree in chemical engineering from McGill University in Canada.^[2] He took a career break and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.^[3]

He has dual Lebanese and Canadian nationality.^[4]

Sawan joined Shell in 1997 as an engineer with Petroleum Development Oman .^[5] He later served as Managing Director and Chairman of Qatar Shell, where he oversaw Shell's business in Qatar, including its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Pearl Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) operations.^[6] He rose to become head of Shell's integrated gas and renewables division, and succeeded Ben van Beurden as CEO on 1 January 2023.^[4] In the summer of 2023 he announced that Shell will be dropping plans to cut oil production each year for the rest of the decade.^[7]

Sawan received a pay packet of £7.9 million ($10.1 million) for 2023, having become chief executive at the start of 2023 on an annual salary of £1.4 million (not including other compensation).^[8] In 2025, Sawan's total compensation from Shell was £13.8 million, an increase of 60% from the £8.6 million he received in 2024.^[9]

Under Sawan, Shell has focused on share buybacks with a mission of narrowing the gap with US-domiciled energy majors. Shell is currently^[when?] spending $3.5 billion a quarter on buybacks.^[10] Buybacks have run at $3 billion or more for 14 quarters in a row.^[11]

On 3 august 2026, Sawan announced a retreat from renewable energies for Shell and the sale of onshore renewable energy operations to TotalEnergies.^[12] This while wildfires, directly linked to climate change caused by fossil fuel emissions^[13], spread across Europe and the rest of the world.

Sawan is married to Nicole, and they have three sons.^[2]