About

Shell’s Italian division plays an important part in the company’s European operations. Shell has recently sold its downstream assets in Italy, including retail outlets, distribution and logistics in order to concentrate more on new production, with activities centred on the Basilicata region of southern Italy, containing the third largest reserves of oil in Europe. This change of strategic focus has created a large amount of corporate and litigation work for the legal team and has seen Francesco Pennisi, Shell’s head of legal for Italy, involved in some complex environmental reviews. Pennisi joined Shell in 2005 and has served as its head of legal for Italy since 2014. He is known as a skilled commercial lawyer with a particularly deep knowledge of oil and gas permitting procedures. Beyond offering legal advice, Pennisi is known as a strong commercial adviser to the business and is highly-regarded in the European legal community.