LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Shell's head of

downstream and renewables Huibert Vigeveno will step down after

30 years with the energy major and be replaced by insider

Machteld de Haan, the company said on Thursday.

De Haan, who joined Shell in 1998 and has been executive

vice president of Shell's chemicals and products business since

2023, will take on the role on April 1.

Shell also said that head of trading Andrew Smith, who

previously reported directly to Vigeveno, will be appointed

director and join the executive committee alongside de Haan, in

a sign of the growing importance of oil, gas and power trading

under CEO Wael Sawan.

Shell is the world's largest energy trader. Sawan aims to

make trading a key engine of the company's energy transition

strategy as he pulls back from lower-return renewables assets.

Trading is, however, a volatile business that can deliver

huge profits and losses, depending on a company's positions and

market conditions.

Vigeveno had headed the refining and marketing division

since 2020. In 2023 Shell added its renewable operations to the

division. He was seen as a candidate to succeed CEO Ben van

Beurden, who left in 2020.

Shell has sharply scaled back its refining operations from a

peak of around 50 plants at the start of the millennium to nine

today due to weakening profit margins, high carbon emissions and

growing competition from new plants. It aims to further reduce

its interests in refining to five sites.

Last year it sold its refining and chemicals hub in

Singapore, one of the world's largest. It is also trying to sell

a stake in a German refinery and plans to shut down another

plant in Wesseling, Germany.