Shell Malaysia appoints Ivan Tan as chairman

Ivan Tan

KUALA LUMPUR: Shell Malaysia has appointed Ivan Tan as country chairman effective April 1, succeeding Datuk Iain Lo.

Lo is retiring from the company service having served as chairman for eight years and after a distinguished career at Shell for 30 years.

In a statement Shell Malaysia said. Tan would oversee all Shell Malaysia businesses, in addition to his current role as senior vice president and managing director for the upstream business in Malaysia.

“We would like to thank Lo for his leadership, experience and commitment over his distinguished career with Shell.

“We welcome Tan into the role of country chairman for Malaysia. Tan is known for his strong business acumen and track record in safety and operational leadership, and I am confident that he will drive further opportunities in Malaysia in line with our global strategy and to support Malaysia with its energy transition,” Royal Dutch Shell upstream director Wael Sawan said in the statement.

Tan, a Sarawakian, began his career with Shell in Miri in 2001. He holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College and an MBA from Manchester Business School.

His early career consisted of several wells, contracting and procurement and HSE assignments in Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and China.

In 2016, Tan led the technical integration of the Shell and British Gas businesses in Australia, before being appointed chief operating officer for Arrow Energy, one of Shell’s joint ventures in the country.

He was responsible for the end-to-end delivery of capacity development, projects, wells, asset management and energy markets for Arrow’s business in the natural gas industry.

He was also the co-chair and president of Queensland Natural Gas Exploration and the Production Industry Safety Forum.

Tan returned to Malaysia in February 2020 to take up his current role in the upstream business.

He has led the ongoing transformation of the upstream business in Malaysia to become more stream-lined and competitive, in order to thrive through the energy transition.