执掌壳牌公司一年后，彼得·沃赛尔（Peter Voser）回顾一些变化并考虑公司的未来。他需要更快地决策，更多的个人责任，作为取得更大竞争推力的组成部分。

Q：经过09年的重组和较好的第一季度成果，这些变化表明壳牌正在正确轨道上吗？

A：我们09年下半年具有竞争性的业绩并未达到我们的标准。有些原因是因为市场状况，但有些表明我们的竞争地位并不足够好。我也看到了一些积极的发展。比如，我对09年完成的变革感到非常高兴，  这是我们整个公司范围的重组计划。同以前的活动相比，这次断裂时间很短，我对组织能够不负众望感到自豪。这并不是说企业文化已有所改变，也不意味着我去年向人们发出挑战的行为现在已经被植入。我是指速度、透明度、外部聚焦等等。这一部分仍要努力争取，要把它们植入到公司现在还有很难的路程。

     至于业绩，我看到趋势正在改善。人们对成本挑战做出回应，我们已经节省了一些开支。我们交付了一些在去年承诺投产通油的项目，这些项目比原计划表现的要好。因此，我确实看到了业务优秀的动力。我看到了许多实现我们战略的积极推动力。我们在至关重要的安全方面也有重大改善。总之，开始情况困难，但具备良好的回应。

Q：差距在什么地方呢？

A: 我们在外部所共享的目标表明我们巨大的竞争差距，我们估计2009年至2012年油气生产预计上升11%。为了取得这个目标，在业务层面，我们要用我们所有资产每天需要最高效率。至于我们已经从事了多年的重要项目，我们的交付必须最好。我还估计我们的业务现金量到2012年大约会增加50%，假定油价为每桶60美元，超过了80美元油价的80%。因此，我们需要进一步改善成本。这是2010年和2011年的重要焦点。最后要说的是，在这个世界上，顾客需求在今后几年会发生变化，石油天然气资源的使用权也更难以取得，我们需要有一种商业思维模式。我们需要快速变化、开发新的创新产品和产生强劲现金流量的项目。这的确是我向组织中每个人发起的挑战。

Q：必须植入组织的新文化中，这对壳牌的每个员工意味着什么呢？

A：显然你是无法一夜之间彻底改变公司DNA的。但是，通过把公司代表的事情与公司人员代表的事情结合到一起，你可以改变或调整心态。对我来讲，壳牌公司代表着技术、创新以及同顾客与合作伙伴共同为可持续性能源的未来而工作。要实现这个目标，我们需要一种外向的商业心态，同时我们在各个水平上还需要速度和简约。

Q: 人们常说，改变一个公司的文化，特别是大公司，至少得用5到10年的时间。

A：我不会接受10年这个分级的。我总是说，至少2年到4年，你就会看到真正变化。这里也一样，我无疑是想快一些。

Q ：这多少是您个人的座右铭：“能再快些干完吗？”

A：对，“再快些干完”。我知道这是个挑战，你真的无法联系到那里的每个人。这就是我特别强调这个问题的原因，不只是讨论它，实际已经开始实施这个过程并也有了清晰的线要素。对我来说，我们拥有的最大线要素就是壳牌这个品牌。它太强了。

Q：壳牌公司在过去大约一年里取得了一些引人注目的具有竞争性的发展。

A在过去的12个月里，速度、外部聚焦和商业思维模式的确推动我们做了一些引人注意的事情。我们因为一些大项目回到了伊拉克，其中有一个是和我们的长期合作伙伴马来西亚Petronas公司一起合作搞的。在巴西同Cosan公司，我们在生物燃料方面正努力打造一个引人注目的合资企业。在科威特我们成功地达成了一项有关天然气开发新型技术服务协议。

   我们澳大利亚的合作伙伴伍德赛德石油公司（Woodside）和美国康菲石油公司

（Conoco Philips）为旭日天然气开发选择了我们的浮动液化天然气技术。同中石油合作我们正更深入到具有潜力的世界最大能源市场，中国。我们还同中石油就澳大利亚和卡塔尔天然气的开发签订了一项协议。我们在墨西哥湾勘探成功，而且在中国和北美为非传统天然气的勘探与生产取得了广阔的新面积。它全面地反映了我们的新价值体系：我们正认真地选择成长性地区，使我们减少对我们传统上的某些地区未来增长的依靠。我想外界并未完全认识到这一点。我们的创新与技术能力还没能跟上所有的这些合作与机遇。

Q：壳牌公司再一次成为一些政府与公司的非常引人注意的合作伙伴。

A: 对，为此我在飞机上度过了许多夜晚。但这绝对值得，会见合作伙伴和政府官员感觉到，对于他们来说，壳牌公司代表着智慧、能力、创新、可信赖的长期伙伴。我得承认，他们也告诉我们，我们有时真的很慢。

Q：“更多的上游，获利的下游”一直是壳牌公司正式的战略吗？

A：对我来说，更多的上游，获利的下游，更是一种决定我们如何配置成长资本的方式，其本身不是我们的战略。这种资本配置还将继续。但是你需要为三足战略建立桥梁，这三足战略包括，具有竞争性的业绩、获利的增长和更准时地交付。我们的战略更在于兑现今后三年11%的生产增长，然后是交付一大批为未来打下坚实基础的新项目。同时要在未来的岁月里实现增强的下游产品组合。

Q：那么壳牌公司长期的目标是什么？

A：很长期的具体战略，比如2025年或更远的，一直在酝酿中。但我想比较长期的愿景已经很清晰；我们要成为世界上最具竞争力、最具创新力的能源公司。一家基本业务领域在石油、天然气和化工方面的能源公司。在今后5到10年里，我们将比今天更多地以天然气为导向。这种更多地聚焦于天然气是我们对变化中的顾客需求做出回应的因素之一。在快速变化的世界里，壳牌需要成为和它的顾客与伙伴共同进步的能源公司。

Q：比今天的天然气更多，石油和天然气我们已经开始对半生产了吗？

A：拿我们在2009年增加的资源为例。在巨大的总计24亿桶石油的当量中，大约有80%是天然气。不过，我们还将是一个为更广泛领域的能源用户提供（包括创新的）技术与生产解决方案的公司。那意味着什么呢？很明显，我们看到了供电作用。它将由新兴经济体的增长需求推动。巨大的挑战是要以社会、经济和环境可承受的代价生产电力。因此，我们也要考虑碳捕获和碳储存，能源效率和可替代燃料。

Q:壳牌公司想和煤炭正面竞争吗？

A：天然气火力发电厂比当量的煤炭火力发电厂少排放50%至70%的二氧化碳。这使得天然气比煤炭在环境上处于强势地位。

Q：目前天然气同石油相比正以折扣价格销售

A：我们预期，在可预见的未来，会有三个天然气市场：欧洲市场、美洲市场以及中东/亚太地区天然气市场。亚太地区主要是以与油价有关的长期合同为基础。因此，你所处的市场是一个按照石油价格推动天然气收益，有3至9个月时间间隔的市场。欧洲市场将是个混合体。会有现货交易，但我认为大部分交易仍然是与油价有关、拥有长期合同的交易。在经济衰退期，需求会较少，差不多供给也一样。甚至像我去年看到的，供给过多。在这种情况下，天然气消费者进入现货市场，因为他们想充分利用有利条件。一旦有寒冬需求就会增长，我可以告诉你因为现货市场的大声喧闹，世界强烈抱怨不公。因此，在某个时候，我们会看到天然气市场比较正常行为的回归。在美洲市场，天然气传统上是按现货主导市场来定价的。他们拥有大量的民用天然气。我们在这个市场仍然非常获利，因为在这里我们是在不同环境下运营。你不会像我们提前20来年投资巨大的液化天然气项目。在北美非传统天然气活动中，你不断投资和钻孔。这给你更多的灵活性。因为你钻了这麽多孔，随着时间的推进你可以把成本降下来。从长期考虑，你会看到天然气的波动性与周期性将不会与我们今天有太多差别。

Q：你认为英国公司的石油泄露事件将对整个行业产生长期重大的可能影响吗？

A：像这样的事件赤裸裸地提醒人们，卓越的操作，以及由此产生的安全与环境问题，对我们所有的人是多么至关重要。我还不想下结论，因为我想先看看到底哪里出了差错。但极为明显，这将会有重大影响，至少对近海环境是如此。我们可以预料会有更多的规章制度出台，并由此产生更高的成本。

Q：今年春季，你宣布下游业务将把它的全球炼油能力减少15%，而且正寻求退出三分之一以上的下游市场。你们正走向单一上游的壳牌公司吗？

A：绝对不会的。我越来越完全相信整合。如果你想一想那些技术，它们帮助我们把上游的石油、天然气和化工产品直接同终端用户连接起来，像液化天然气、天然气液化和天然气化工，那么很显然，我们谈的是整合活动。我是个相信价值链的人，我着眼于整个价值链，我不想让人吞噬了我的价值链。我从不会忘记，壳牌最大的品牌价值不会在上游活动中产生，而是在下游领域。

Q：你仍然要摆脱大约35%的壳牌下游市场而且许多炼油厂不得不弃掉吗？

A：制造业是一个有20多年循环周期的业务，如果我们处于下降周期我不会过多担心。但如果我们的资产过小而且由于缺乏规模、复杂性和灵活性而无法控制下降周期，那么我就会担心。这就是我们目前正在修正的事情。我们要成为比较大的联合体，与我们的化工活动全面整合，因为化工活动能产生最好的重油轻油差异和规模经济。如此，即使在下降周期，我们也可以保有现金流量。我们不要忘了，头一季度炼油业务我们是亏损的，化工、贸易和营销实际上赢利的。

Q：就个人而言，这是不是一项吞食了你滑雪和徒步旅行时间的工作？

A：这都好掌握。我得说这很有意思。我感觉到挑战，非常清楚。这是伸展操，从商业和社交角度看绝对是享受。作为壳牌公司的CEO，更加明显。不过，你不仅要参加经济的也要参见社会与环境方面的讨论。我喜欢这样。我感觉到了信任，这是我们壳牌公司大家给予的，也是投资者和其他人给予的。毫无疑问，我很少有个人时间。不过，感到自豪的是，我确实能争得充分的时间以便我仍然能有时间滑雪、徒步旅行和潜水。你得需要提供充分恢复体力的时间。

选译自* Peter Voser spoke to David Woodruff and Piet de Wit   14/06/2010

Peter Voser（生于1958年8月29日），荷兰皇家壳牌公司现任CEO（2009年7月1日上任）。自2005年7月担任荷皇壳牌首席财务官。瑞士苏黎世应用科学大学毕业，商业管理学位。因担任壳牌公司首席财务官，2008年公司付给他年薪1,010,000欧元，红利1,423,125欧元或 2,057,175美元。【完】                                
原文
Shell CEO keeps foot on accelerator
 after a year at Shell’s helm, Peter Voser looks back at the changes and considers the company’s future. He wants quicker decisions and more personal accountability as part of an ongoing push to get more competitive.

Q Do the changes after the 2009 restructuring and better first-quarter results show that Shell is on the right path?

A Our competitive performance in the second half of 2009 was quite clearly not up to our standards. Some of it resulted from market conditions, but some of it showed that our competitive position was not good enough.

I’ve also seen positive developments. For instance, I was very happy with what was achieved with Transition 2009, our company-wide restructuring programme. Compared with previous exercises it was a very short period of disruption and I'm very proud the organisation was able to deliver it.

Now that doesn’t mean the culture has changed, and it doesn’t mean that all the behaviours I challenged people with last year are now embedded. By that I mean speed, transparency, external focus and so forth. That piece is still to be worked and there’s now the hard journey to embed it.

Peter Voser discusses safety day at Pernis refinery, the Netherlands

On performance, I see an improving trend. People responded to the cost challenge and we have achieved savings. We delivered the projects that we had promised to bring on stream in the past year, and they are performing better than planned. So I actually see a drive for operational excellence. And I see a lot of positive drive toward implementing our strategy. We also had a major improvement in the crucial area of safety. So, all in all, a difficult situation at the start, with a good response.

Q Where are the gaps?

A The targets we have shared externally point to our big competitive gaps. We said our oil and gas production is expected to rise by 11% from 2009 to 2012. In order to get there, at the operating level we need top performance day in and day out – with all of our assets. And when it comes to the important projects that we have now worked on for many years, our delivery must be second to none.

We also said cash from our operations would increase by about 50% to 2012, assuming oil prices at $60 a barrel, and by more than 80% with $80 oil. So we need to further improve cost-wise. That’s going to be a key focus in 2010 and 2011.

Finally, in a world where customer demands will start to change over the next few years and where access to oil and gas resources will be more difficult to obtain, we need a commercial mindset. We need to move fast and launch new, innovative products and projects that generate strong cash flow. That’s really the challenge I put to everyone in the organisation.

Q That new culture that must be embedded in the organisation. What does that mean for the individual Shell employee?

A Clearly you cannot change the DNA of a company completely and overnight. But you can, through the alignment of what a company stands for and what the people in the company stand for, change or adjust the mind-set. For me, Shell stands for technology, for innovation, plus working with customers and partners for a sustainable energy future. In order to achieve that we need an external and commercial mindset and we need speed and simplicity at all levels.

Q People often say changing the culture in a company, especially a large one, takes at least five to ten years.

A I wouldn’t accept a ten-year bracket. I’ve always said it’s two to four years at least before you see the real changes. Here too I clearly want to be fast.

Q That's more or less your personal motto: “Do it faster”?

A Yes, “do it faster”. I know this is challenging – and you don’t reach really everybody out there immediately. That’s why I place so much emphasis on this, to not just talk about it, but to actually start implementing this process and also have a clear alignment element. For me, the biggest alignment element which we have is the Shell brand itself. It is so strong.

Q Shell achieved some interesting competitive developments in the past year or so. Partnerships with leading energy companies and large resource holders. 

A Speed, external focus and a commercial mindset have indeed driven us over the last 12 months to do many interesting deals. We are back in Iraq for large projects, including one with our long-term Malaysian partner Petronas. With Cosan in Brasil we are forging a very interesting joint venture in biofuels. We negotiated a novel technical service agreement for gas developments in Kuwait.

Extracting tightly trapped natural gas, Pinedale Anticline, Wyoming, USA

Our Australian partner Woodside and US company Conoco Philips selected our Floating LNG technology for the Sunrise gas development. Partnering with PetroChina we are entering deeper into potentially the world’s biggest energy market, China. We also signed an agreement with PetroChina for gas developments in Australia and Qatar. We had exploration successes in the Gulf of Mexico and we gained extensive new acreage for unconventional gas exploration and production in China and North America.

It all reflects our new philosophy in which we are carefully choosing where to grow and making ourselves less dependent for our future growth on some of the areas where we have traditionally been. I think this has not yet fully been recognised by the outside world. Our innovative and technological capabilities are behind all these new partnerships and opportunities.

Q Shell is again a very interesting partner for governments and companies.

A Yes, and I’ve spent a lot of nights on airplanes for that purpose. But it’s absolutely worthwhile to meet partners and governments and get the feeling that for them Shell stands for an intelligent, capable, innovative, trustworthy long-term partner. I have to admit that they also tell us that we can be really slow from time to time.

Q Is “more upstream, profitable downstream” still the official Shell strategy? 

A For me, more upstream profitable downstream was more of a way to decide how we allocate growth capital and not per se our strategy. This capital allocation will continue. But then you need to make the bridge to the three-legged strategy, which is competitive performance, profitable growth and sharper delivery. Our strategy is more about delivering the 11% production growth for the next three years, and then delivering the next big wave of new projects that lay a solid foundation for the future. Together with realising an enhanced Downstream portfolio in the years to come.

Q But what is the long term goal for Shell?

A The detailed strategy for the very long term, let’s say 2025 and beyond, is still in the making. But I think the longer-term vision is already very clear; we want to be the most competitive and innovative energy company in the world. An energy company whose primary business area is in oil, gas and chemicals. And we will become even more gas-oriented over the next five to ten years than we already are today. This greater gas focus is one of the elements in our response to the changing needs of our customers. In this fast-changing world, Shell needs to be an energy company that powers progress together with its customers and partners. 

Q Even more gas than today, when we are already heading for a 50/50 production split between oil and gas?

A Take, for instance, our resource additions in 2009. Of a grand total of 2.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, some 80% was gas. But we will also be a company that delivers technical and product solutions, including innovation, to energy users in a wider field. What does that mean? Clearly, we see a role in delivering electricity. Not the electricity itself, but the components that go into it. This will be driven by the increased demand from the emerging economies. The big challenge is to produce power at a socially, economically and environmentally affordable price. Therefore we also look at carbon capture and storage, at energy efficiency and at alternative fuels.

Q Alternative energy will be foremost Brazilian ethanol?

A To start with. We’re primarily talking biofuels, with a strong component of first and second generation coming out of Brazil, first in the Brazilian market, then going further. But we also look at novel ways of converting sugars from biomass straight into gasoline and diesel, rather than ethanol. So it is gas, it is biofuels, it is wind, it is carbon capture and storage. And it is increased energy efficiency. Our total approach will be the delivery of low-carbon fuels; our contribution to lowering the actual CO2 content of the world. That’s how we can make a difference.

Q So Shell wants to compete head-on with coal?

A A gas fired power plant emits 50%-70% less CO2 than a coal fired equivalent. That gives gas an environmentally strong position over coal.

Q At present gas is selling for a discount compared to oil.

A It is our expectation that for the foreseeable future, you will have three gas markets: a European market, an American market, and a Middle-East/Asia-Pacific gas market. The Asia-Pacific gas market will be predominantly based on oil-price linked, long-term contracts. Hence, you are in a market that drives the gas earnings in line with the oil price, with a three- to nine-month time lapse.

The European market will be a mixture. There will be spot trading but I think the majority will still be oil-price related, with long-term contracts. In a recession you have less demand, and more or less the same supply – or even, as we saw last year, more supply. In that situation, gas consumers go into spot markets because they want to take the full advantage. As soon as you have a cold winter and the demand comes up, I can tell you the world cries foul because the spot markets just go through the roof. So we will see a return of more normal behaviour in the gas market at some point.

In the American market, natural gas will traditionally be priced on spot-dominated markets. They have large volumes of domestic gas. Still we can be highly profitable in that market because we are operating here in a different environment. You don’t invest upfront for 20 years or so like we do in huge LNG projects. In the North American unconventional gas play, you continuously invest and drill. That gives you more flexibility. And since you drill so much, you can bring your costs down over time. When you think long-term, you see that the volatility and the cyclicality of natural gas is not going to be that much different to what we have today.

Q Do you think that the Deepwater Horizon incident will have significant long-term implications for the whole industry?

A An incident like this is a very stark reminder of how important operational excellence, and therefore safety and environment, is for all of us. I don’t want to draw conclusions yet, because I first want to see what really went wrong. But quite clearly this will have a significant impact, at least in the offshore environment. We can expect more regulation and therefore more costs. 

Q This spring you announced that the Downstream business will reduce its global refining capacity by 15% and is looking for an exit in over one-third of Downstream markets. Are you heading for an upstream-only Shell?

A Absolutely not. I am a full believer of integration, more and more so. If you think of technologies that help us to connect our upstream production of oil, gas and chemicals directly with the end-users, such as liquefied natural gas, gas to liquids, and gas to chemicals, then it is clear that we are talking of an integrated play. I am a value-chain person. I look at the whole chain and I don’t want people to eat into my chain. I will never forget that the biggest brand value of Shell is not generated in our Upstream activities but in the Downstream sector.

Q Still you want to get rid of some 35% of Shell’s Downstream markets and many refineries have to go.

A Manufacturing is a 20-year plus cyclical business. I don’t get too nervous if we’re in a down cycle. I get nervous if our assets are too small and cannot manage the down cycle because of their lack of scale, complexity and flexibility. That is what we are correcting now. We are going to bigger complexes, fully integrated with our chemical activities, that can yield the optimum of heavy and light oil differentials plus economies of scale. By doing that we can stay cash-positive even in the downside of the cycle. And let us not forget that while refining was losing money in this first quarter, chemicals, trading and marketing were actually making money.

Q On a personal level, is this is a job eating into your skiing and hiking time?

A This is all manageable. It is fun, I have to say. I feel the challenge, quite clearly. It is stretching, but I absolutely enjoy it from a business and from a societal perspective. As CEO of a company like Shell, you are much more visible. But you’re also involved in not just the economic but also in the social and the environmental discussion. And I like that. I feel a lot of trust, given by our own Shell people, but also by the investors and by others.

There is no doubt that I have less private time. But I am proud of the fact that I can actually carve out enough time so that I still have my skiing days, my hiking days and my diving days. You need to have enough recovery time to deliver.

* Peter Voser spoke to David Woodruff and Piet de