* New chief "quiet man, but determined" - former Shell exec
* Was assistant to ex-boss Phil Watts during reserves crisis
* Faces investor calls to rein in investment
* Has background in Shell's strong suit, LNG
By Andrew Callus
LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell namedrefining head Ben van Beurden as its new chief executive,picking a man with little board-level experience but broadcompany exposure and first-hand knowledge of the gas technologyit has bet its future on.
Van Beurden, who became head of refining, marketing andchemicals in January, has been at the Anglo-Dutch group for 30years and spent a decade in the liquefied natural gas (LNG)industry.
At 55, the Dutchman is of similar age to Peter Voser, theSwiss national he is replacing, who announced his surpriseretirement in May.
Though not widely known outside Europe's top oil company,van Beurden is respected inside it. He also represents a bigpart of Voser's vision of its future as a business in theforefront of oil and gas technology thanks to his experience inLNG, where Shell has become the acknowledged industry leader.
Van Beurden, who a former Shell executive described as "'TheQuiet Man' within Shell - but enormously determined", faces anindustry-wide battle to replace reserves and control costs. Someshareholders want Shell to reduce investment and keep more forbigger dividends.
Voser told Reuters after his retirement announcement that hewas resisting that call.
'HIGH FLYER'
Like Voser, who will be 55 in August and is leaving insearch of a lifestyle change, van Beurden is from the downstreampart of the business which wrested control from the upstream oiland gas division in the aftermath of Shell's reserves accountingcrisis of 2003/04.
A chemical engineering graduate, van Beurden had a frontseat for the crisis, in which the company was forced todowngrade oil and gas reserves that top executives hadover-estimated for years.
He worked between 2002 and 2004 as management assistant toPhil Watts, the head of company who was sacked in the aftermathof the debacle in 2004.
"He (van Beurden) was clearly a high flyer then, and I amnot surprised at all that he's made it all the way to the top,"said a former colleague who no longer works for Shell.
The former executive said the choice of van Beurden showedthat Shell wants to improve its operational performance and holdmanagers to account, particularly in the upstream business.
"(Ben) is recognised as an extremely capable and focusedcolleague who listens - offending few, rarely excitable and verysupportive. Most importantly, his results delivery is alwaysconsidered, structured and methodical. He will be a steadyinghand at the Shell helm in the coming years," he said.
Van Beurden joined Shell in 1983 and has held engineering,plant management and operations and commercial roles in theNetherlands, Africa, Malaysia, UK and the United States. He hasheld the role of operations manager of Malaysia LNG and is aformer vice president, gas & power, in Mexico.
BATTLE AHEAD
One of van Beurden's first tasks will be to oversee a planto retreat further from Nigeria's eastern Niger Delta, a thornin the company's side for decades through oil spills, theft,sabotage and civil unrest. Shell announced a strategic review ofthe business in June.
Given that he was relatively new to the top executive level, investors and insiders did not initially consider van Beurden alikely contender. The early focus of attention was on FinanceDirector Simon Henry and other divisional heads Marvin Odum,Matthias Bichsel, and Andrew Brown.
More recently, though, insiders were saying Henry and Brownlacked breadth of experience. They said Odum was tarnished byShell's accidents in Alaska, and Bichsel was too old.
Some insiders had also noted a push to find a Dutch CEO toreassure investors in the Netherlands. The disgraced Watts andhis predecessor in the role were British, like Henry and Brown.
A senior manager at Shell said that Henry was the only onewho may have felt he had a chance to be CEO. Given that he is inhis early fifties, he may still be in the frame for futurepromotion.
Shares in Shell gained 1.4 percent on Tuesday.
"Van Beurden looks, on paper, an eminently suitablesuccessor to Voser," said one of the 20 biggest investors inShell.
