The Chinese arm of British oil and gas company Shell has named Sabrina Qu its chairwoman, replacing its first-ever female chairperson in less than a year.

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

Qu joined London-based Shell in 2017 as general marketing manager of the firm's lubricants department in China and was named VP of Shell Global Lubricants Marketing in 2021. She had previously worked at PepsiCo as market 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.

However, Shell updated its energy transition strategy on March 14, adjusting its net carbon intensity reduction target of 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.

Shell aims for 35 percent of its 1,400 senior executives to be women by next year and increase the figure to 40 percent by 2030. Only 26 percent of such staff were female in 2019.