John Abbott shares his views on the future of transport and the challenges and opportunities energy players should be aware of.

John Abbott was appointed Downstream Director and a member of the Executive Committee of Royal Dutch Shell plc on October 1, 2013. He joined Shell in 1981 after graduating from Birmingham University, UK, with a first-class honours degree in Chemical Engineering. John has since worked in the UK, Singapore, Thailand, the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA, predominantly in the areas of Global Manufacturing and Supply, Trading and Distribution.

In 1994, he was seconded to the British Government on a brief assignment to work in the Central Policy and Planning Unit of what was then the Department of the Environment. In 2006, John became Vice President Manufacturing Excellence and Support, based in Houston, USA. Two years later, he became Executive Vice President of Shell’s Upstream Americas Heavy Oil business, based in Calgary, Canada. In 2012, John was appointed Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing and led a team of 30,000 employees and contractors based at around 30 refineries and chemical sites worldwide. John is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, as well as a chartered engineer and chartered scientist.