Elohor Aiboni has been appointed as Executive Vice President and Country Chair of Shell Nigeria effective August 1, 2026 making history as the first Nigerian to occupy the combined role of Shell Executive Vice President and Country Chair.
Aiboni succeeds Marno de Jong, who is retiring after a 34-year career with Shell.
As Executive Vice President and Country Chair, she will oversee Shell’s broader interests in Nigeria, including stakeholder engagement, government relations, investment strategy, operational performance, and business development.
Steady Professional Growth
A chemical engineer by training, Elohor Aiboni joined Shell more than two decades ago and steadily advanced through increasingly complex technical and leadership assignments spanning Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Brunei, and other international operations.
Her early years at Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) saw her serve as Production Operations Supervisor, Production Operations Support Engineer, and later Team Leader for the Obigbo oil and gas field.
Between 2011 and 2014, she worked in Kazakhstan with Agip KCO, supporting the development and startup verification of the Kashagan project, one of the world’s most complex oil developments.
Earlier, she served as Business Analyst to Shell’s Executive Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa, working closely with senior leadership teams across Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon.
Managing Nigeria’s Strategic Deepwater Assets
In January 2018, she was appointed Asset Manager for Bonga, Shell’s flagship deepwater development and one of Nigeria’s most important offshore assets.
The Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility has historically contributed more than 10% of Nigeria’s daily crude oil output, making it a critical national energy asset.
As Asset Manager, Aiboni was responsible for health, safety, security and environmental performance, operational excellence, production efficiency, and long-term asset value creation. The role placed her at the center of one of the largest and most technologically sophisticated operations in the Gulf of Guinea.
In August 2021, she became Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), the Shell subsidiary responsible for the company’s deepwater portfolio in Nigeria.
Since October 2024, Aiboni has served as Asset Director at Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), one of Brunei’s most important energy companies. As one of four Executive Directors, she has overseen asset governance, engineering, production delivery, project execution, and operational performance, while helping shape long-term business strategy.
Educational Background
Aiboni holds a Master of Science degree in Integrated Environmental Management (Environmental Engineering) from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, earned in 2014.
She also received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Benin, where she studied between 1992 and 1999.
