‘Pale, male and stale’: The North Sea firms with no women on their boards

Fewer than one in three (29%) energy sector boardroom seats held by women.

By Ryan Duff

May 23 2023, 7:41 pm

l-r Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Luis Polo and Tom Cross, the CEOs of Ineos, Repsol Sinopec UK and Parkmead Group respectively. All three firms have been highlighted as having women-free boards. Image: DCT Media

New data from a pressure group has revealed the UK North Sea firms with no women on their boards.

POWERful Women’s latest annual State of the Nation report highlights Repsol Sinopec UK (RSUK), Parkmead Group and Ineos as having men-only boardrooms, as of April 2023.

Another company with no women on the board, Hague and London Oil, is now defunct.

POWERful Women chairwoman Katie Jackson said the UK energy industry was in danger of looking “pale, male and stale”.

Table showing the gender diverisyt in North Sea energy company board rooms — The telling data from POWERful Women.

Of the 80 firms the campaign group researched across the whole UK energy sector, more than one in five, or 21%, had no women on their boards.

Fewer than one in three (29%) boardroom seats were held by women.

At top executive level, women made up just 16% of roles.

Katie Jackson Chair of POWERful Women. Supplied by POWERful Women

Ms Jackson spoke to Energy Voice, sister website to The Press and Journal, about the firms with women-free boards.

She said: “That is one of the pieces of data that does strike me every year, maybe harder than some of the others.

“We still have this year 17 out of these top 80 UK energy companies who don’t have any women on their boards.

Supermajors set example

Shell, BP and TotalEnergies all had a more even split of men and women board members.

BP was found to have a 46% female presence and Shell proved to have more women than men on its board, with an impressive 55%.

French supermajor TotalEnergies fell just short of BP and Shell, with six out of 14 boardroom roles (43%) held by women.

repsol sinopec — Repsol Sinopec Resources UK’s HQ in Aberdeen.

A RSUK spokesperson said: “We aim to be an attractive employer for women and men at all levels in the organisation.

“Although female representation overall has improved, there is still more to do.

“We are committed to improving this and undertaking a number of initiatives, including a leadership programme targeting current and future female leaders in our organisation.”

Harbour Energy, with Linda Cook as chief executive, boasts a total of four women on its 10-strong board.

A spokesperson for Harbour said: “We are proud of our work to place diversity, equity, and inclusion at the core of our business, as well as our commitment to establish pathways to help women reach senior roles across the organisation.”

Welcoming the POWERful Women-PwC report, Energy Consumers and Affordability Minister Amanda Solloway said: “We need women in leadership roles to drive towards our goal of securing cheap, clean energy that Britain needs to prosper.”