Shell Appoints Elohor Aiboni, Executive Vice President, Country Chair Nigeria
Elohor Aiboni, one of the over 300 women in senior leadership position at Shell, a Petroleum Engineer and Shell executive known for operational, technical and international leadership experience, made history when was named Executive Vice President and Country Chair Nigeria recently. She is taking over from Marno de Jong who leaves Shell, after a 34-year career with the Company. Elohor Aiboni’s new appointment takes effect from August 1st, 2026. The appointment marks a milestone for Shell in Nigeria, where senior leadership has historically been skewed toward expatriates.
Elohor becomes the first Nigerian to take up the combined role of Executive Vice President and Country Chair Nigeria, thus bringing over 24 years’ experience within Shell across Nigeria’s offshore, shallow water and onshore businesses with international assignments in Kazakhstan and Brunei.
She became Managing Director of SNEPCo in 2021, the first female to hold the post and led the deepwater business and associated investments in Nigeria with Bonga achieving the 1 billionth barrel of oil in 2023.She left for Brunei in 2024 where she oversees asset performance, production, and project delivery.
The Nigerian national in her comment noted: 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”.
In a statement issued by Gladys Afam-Anadu, company’s Communications Manager, she explained that under Marno’s leadership, Nigeria’s flagship Bonga asset delivered strong performance, sustaining high availability well above target, while he was also instrumental in advancing major key investment decisions, including the HI offshore gas project and the Bonga North development.
On his part, Marno said, “I’m grateful for the support I have enjoyed since my time in Nigeria which has enabled us to achieve progress on many fronts. 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.”
It would be recalled that Marno was appointed Senior Vice President Nigeria in 2020 and later became Executive Vice President in addition to the role of Country Chair, overseeing all Shell’s operations in Nigeria.He has led Shell Nigeria for over six years, sustaining operations and breaking new grounds in project delivery and growth.
On her part, Elohor a product of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Benin, and later bagged B.Sc. Chemical Engineering from University of Benin, Nigeria as well as an M.Sc in Integrated Environmental Management from University of Bath, United Kingdom.She joined Shell as aTrainee Production Engineer after her NYSC and Shell Intensive Training Programme and rose through the ranks. For instance she was EA Operations Manager from 2015 to 2018. She is equally a Certified QMS Auditor as well as a trained HSSE & Control Framework Auditor.
As Bonga Asset Manager she oversaw production for the FPSO. Also Under her as MD SNEPCo, the Bonga field produced its one-billionth barrel of oil in 2023.
Marno,the out going, Country Chair joined Shell in 1992 as a Project Engineer at the start of a career that has seen him serve across Project Delivery, Engineering, Commercial, and Upstream Development in the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Nigeria, Australia, the United States, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Indonesia.