Shell chief quits to be chairman of Rio Tinto

Paul Skinner, the oil executive who lost out in the tussle for the top job at Royal Dutch/Shell two years ago, is to become the new chairman of Rio Tinto, the international mining group.

Mr Skinner, 58, will take over at Rio Tinto when the present executive chairman, Sir Robert Wilson, retires in October. Unlike Sir Robert, however, he will perform the role in a non-executive capacity. This will enable Leigh Clifford, Rio Tinto's chief executive, to assume Sir Robert's executive responsibilities.

Sir Robert, who has been with Rio Tinto for 32 years, will retire on one of the largest company pensions ever seen in the UK. His £14.6m pension pot will entitle him to an annual pension of £656,000.

Mr Skinner is a managing director of Shell and chief executive of its oil products division. He was beaten to the chairman's job by Sir Philip Watts in July 2001, since when there has been speculation he would leave.

A Rio Tinto spokeswoman said it was not possible to give details of Mr Skinner's remuneration package although he will clearly earn a lot less than the £1.4m Sir Robert took home last year. Mr Skinner has been a non-executive director of Rio Tinto since 2001.