Shell folds U.S. shale resources unit, says U.S. head to leave

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it will fold into other operations a unit dedicated to developing so-called unconventional resources, a term used by the industry to describe shale oil and gas, and that the unit's director and U.S. head Marvin Odum would leave the company.

Shell on Feb. 4 reported its lowest annual income in more than a decade and pledged further cost saving measures to deal with weak oil prices.

The Anglo-Dutch company said its shale resources unit would become part of the upstream business led by Andy Brown. Its Athabasca Oil Sands Project and Scotford Upgrader in Canada would fall under the downstream unit, headed by John Abbott.

Both Brown and Abbott are based in Europe, where Shell has headquarters and major offices in London and the Hague.

Odum, who joined Shell in 1982, will leave the company at the end of March and will be replaced as U.S. country chairman and president by Bruce Culpepper, executive vice president for human resources.

(This version of the story corrects to say that unit is being folded in with other opreations, not closed)

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by David Holmes)