(Yicai) April 2 -- The Chinese arm of British oil and gas company Shell has named Sabrina Qu as its new chairwoman, replacing its first-ever female chair in less than a year.

Qu will also be an executive vice president of Shell, an insider at Shell China told Yicai yesterday. Chen Lin, who was appointed chairwoman last July, is on sick leave, the person noted.

Shell aims for 35 percent of its 1,400 senior executives to be women by next year and 40 percent by 2030. Only 26 percent of them were women in 2019.

Qu joined London-based Shell in 2017 as general marketing manager of its lubricants department in China and was named VP of Shell’s global lubricants marketing in 2021. She had previously worked at PepsiCo as marketing director, senior director, and VP of marketing in China.

Qu will lead Shell China's business and drive the implementation of the Powering Progress strategy in the country, the insider said.

In 2021, Powering Progress set Shell's strategy to accelerate the transition of its business to net-zero emissions. Shell updated its energy transition strategy on March 14, adjusting its net carbon intensity reduction target for each energy product it sells to between 15 percent and 20 percent by 2030 compared with 2016. It had previously aimed for a 20 percent cut.

Shell is one of the largest multinational corporations operating in China and has been in the country for over 130 years. Shell and its local joint ventures employ over 20,000 workers, with more than 99 percent being Chinese, according to the website of Shell China.

Editor: Martin Kadiev