David Lawrence, executive vice president exploration and commercial, will be departing the company as Shell restructures its exploration and commercial division, a spokesman said.
The departure has spurred speculation among critics that Lawrence may be a casualty of failures in the company's Arctic drilling programme.
Shell has laid out about $5 billion in an enthusiastic campaign to target resources in the Arctic with high-tech drilling techniques, but faced a summer of setbacks in 2012 amid equipment problems and permitting trouble, finishing out the summer with only tophole drilling completed.
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