Profile: Wolfgang Stroebl

Despite having told shareholders that it has no immediate plans to do business in Iraq, Shell Oil appoints Wolfgang Stroebl, a Dubai-based exploration and production executive, as “country chairman” for Iraq. According to the British organization PLATFORM, the “country chairman role is the most senior coordinating job in a country where Shell operates, and indicates a significant amount of activity by the company there.” The company also places an ad with the recruitment firm Glenn Irvine International seeking a “person of Iraqi extraction with strong family connections and an insight into the network of families of significance within Iraq” to work as a public relations officer for Shell Iraq. The person would bring “suitable opportunities to fruition on behalf of the company” and draw up a “reputation management plan,” the advertisement says. [Guardian, 8/11/2004; Muttitt, 2005]