Shell Trading Careers

Title: Trading & Supply_Andrew Smith

Duration: 02:30 minutes

Description: 

Portfolio Development Manager Andrew Smith describes his job and offers advice for those looking to work in Trading & Supply.

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CAREER STORIES

Andrew Smith

EVP Trading & Supply

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Andrew speaking to camera, sitting in front of a glass screen with a large office in the background.

[Andrew Smith]

Trading & Supply is the part of Shell that makes sure that Shell gets best value for its upstream production and makes sure their marketing businesses have a cost-competitive supply. We trade around the flows that that gives us, adding value to Shell. We also take care of all the transportation activities for Shell, so whether that’s ships, trucks or terminal [?], we manage that globally.

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Panning shot from behind a man sat in front of multiple computer screens displaying data, speeds up briefly as camera passes the back of his head. Shots of screen displaying trading indices and graphs.

[Andrew Smith]

We trade a variety of products: We trade crude oils around the world; we trade finished products like gasoline and diesel and fuel oil and the components that we use to make those. We also trade gas, electricity and environmental products like CO2 permits.

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Close-up side view of woman speaking with head turned to look at a screen. View down a line of workstations of people at work. Shot of screen displaying flashing trading indices. Andrew speaking to camera, sitting in front of the office background.

[Andrew Smith]

Trading & Supply is probably one of the most commercial parts of Shell so it suits people who have a real commercial bent, a real desire to make money for the company, but what’s important is that’s done in the right way. We’re a regulated firm and so compliance with the laws is really important; market conduct is really important. So a strong sense of business ethics is important to us.

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Men sitting round a table as one explains something to the man next to him. Shots of people working at their desks: a man pointing at someone else’s screen; panning shot from behind of a woman in front of multiple screens; a view down a line of computers towards a man and a woman working at their desks; a man and a woman sitting next to each other, chatting and wider shot of them chatting to another two men, their desks all in a row.

[Andrew Smith]

Our frontline traders come from a great variety of backgrounds: some are engineers; some are geologists; some are sales staff. They come in with all sorts of backgrounds. What they have in common is that commercial drive.

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Andrew speaking to camera, sitting in front of the office background.

[Andrew Smith]

They also have to be comfortable with taking risk; there are very few risk-free trades. Some days we make money; some days you’d lose money. You have to be comfortable with risk.

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Panning shot of a large working office environment. View down a line of workstations of a woman explaining something to another woman at her desk as they look at a screen. View across the tops of some screens of two men sitting next to each other in discussion. A man sits facing a woman in front of his or her desk, explaining something. A man gives a talk in a meeting room. Andrew speaking to camera, sitting in front of the office background.

[Andrew Smith]

The best traders are team players. Collaboration is incredibly important. We’re a very physical trading operation here. We manage a lot of physical oil. That makes it quite complicated, so you need to be able to work as a team.

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Panning shot of trading indices on a screen. Shots of men looking at screens, a line of men sitting in a meeting room, a man and woman chatting by a desk, a man talking and laughing to colleagues next to his desk, a man working with a microphone in front of multiple screens and a man working in front of six screens.

[Andrew Smith]

My advice to people thinking about joining Trading & Supply is to talk to some of the people here, find out what they really do and back yourself and give it a go. I love this business. Shell is one of the world’s largest commodity trading firms.

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Panning shot of a map on a screen. A man pointing to a wall of screens and a close-up of a man smiling. Andrew speaking to camera, sitting in front of the office background.

[Andrew Smith]

We have built a tremendous business, adding enormous value. It’s a really exciting place to work, full of a great variety of people; every day is fun.

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Shell Logo on a white background

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© SHELL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 2017

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