Shell picks Aiboni as first female executive vice president & country chair for Nigeria

Shell Plc has named Elohor Aiboni as executive vice president and country chair for Nigeria, putting a Nigerian in sole charge of the energy major’s operations in the country for the first time since the combined role was created.

Aiboni, currently serving as asset director at Brunei Shell Petroleum, will succeed Marno de Jong, who is leaving Shell after 34 years to pursue an opportunity outside the company, Shell said. The appointment takes effect Aug. 1, 2026.

De Jong took on the Nigeria post in 2020 as senior vice president before the role was expanded to include the country chair title, giving him oversight of all of Shell’s businesses in Nigeria. He joined Shell in 1992 as a project engineer and has since worked across project delivery, engineering, commercial and upstream development in stints spanning the U.K., Venezuela, Nigeria, Australia, the U.S., the Netherlands, Malaysia and Indonesia.

His tenure in Nigeria coincided with a period of heavy investment in the company’s deepwater portfolio. The Bonga field, Shell’s flagship offshore asset, maintained availability levels above target during his leadership, while the company advanced final investment decisions on the HI offshore gas project and the Bonga North development, both central to Shell’s plans to expand gas and deepwater output in the country.

“I’m grateful for the support I have enjoyed since my time in Nigeria, which has enabled us to achieve progress on many fronts,” de Jong said in a statement. “I leave with fond memories of warm friendships and strong support from colleagues in Shell and our partners. I’m confident that Shell operations in Nigeria will continue to deliver value and growth under Elohor, given the strong leadership credentials she brings to the roles, and wish Shell Nigeria every success.”

Aiboni brings more than 24 years at Shell, with experience across the company’s offshore, shallow-water and onshore businesses in Nigeria as well as international postings in Kazakhstan and Brunei. She was named managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co. in 2021, becoming the first woman to hold that position. In that role, she oversaw the deepwater business and its associated investment program, a period that included Bonga crossing the 1-billionth-barrel production milestone in 2023.

She relocated to Brunei in 2024, where she has been responsible for asset performance, production and project delivery at Brunei Shell Petroleum, a joint venture between Shell and the Brunei government.

“I’m excited at the opportunity to continue to contribute to the efficient delivery of Shell’s business in Nigeria and thereby power progress in a country we’ve been part of for more than 60 years,” Aiboni said. “Marno has led from his heart these six-plus years, sustaining operations and breaking new ground in project delivery and growth. It’s a legacy I’m keen to build on with the support of colleagues and other stakeholders.”

Shell has operated in Nigeria for more than six decades, making the country one of its longest-standing footprints in Africa even as the company has trimmed its onshore presence there in recent years. Shell sold its onshore subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company, in 2024, leaving SNEPCo’s deepwater and gas assets, including Bonga and the planned Bonga North expansion, as the core of its remaining Nigerian portfolio.

The leadership change comes as Shell and other international oil companies continue to weigh investment levels in Nigeria against a backdrop of regulatory shifts, security concerns in parts of the Niger Delta and competition for capital from other deepwater basins. Projects such as HI and Bonga North are seen within the industry as tests of whether Nigeria can keep attracting major offshore investment as global oil majors recalibrate their portfolios.

Aiboni’s appointment also marks a broader shift in representation at the top of multinational oil operations in Nigeria, where leadership of major International Oil Companies has historically rotated through expatriate executives. Her elevation follows her earlier milestone as the first woman to lead SNEPCo, extending a pattern of firsts in her career within the company.

Shell did not name a successor for Aiboni’s current Brunei role as of the announcement.