Ceri Powell


Ceri Michele Powell is a Welsh geologist and businesswoman, who has worked for Royal Dutch Shell since 1990.

Education

The daughter of a manager at Milford Haven oil refinery, Powell grew up in Pembrokeshire and trained as a geologist. Inspired by the example of Dame May Ogilvie Gordon, one of the first female geologists, Powell studied for a BSc in geology at the University of Liverpool and then pursued a PhD, sponsored by Shell, at Cardiff University, studying inversion tectonics and the reactivation of faults as thrusts.

Shell career

After joining Shell, Powell worked in the UK, Angola, Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates. She was VP exploration for the Middle East, Caspian and South Asia from 2004 to early 2008, and represented Shell on joint ventures in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan. She was then VP of Strategy until late 2009.
She was appointed executive vice president exploration, Shell Upstream International in 2009, and in 2013 became global functional head of exploration. As the company's drilling activities reduced, she was appointed managing director of Brunei Shell Petroleum in March 2017.

Other roles

She sits on the United Nations advisory board for Sustainable Energy for All, chaired by the UN Secretary General.
Powell has twice featured on the Fortune Magazine Most Powerful Women list, in 2013, and ranked number 21 in 2014. and has been a strong advocate of increasing female involvement in industry. In 2015, she was described as one of the top six most powerful women in oil and gas.

Personal life

Powell is married to Ajay Shah, another energy industry professional, and, after living in The Hague, she now lives in Brunei. She also has a UK home in the Cotswolds. Her non-work interests include skiing, scuba diving, yoga and gardening.