Royal Dutch Shell’s Head of Exploration Ceri Powell is to step down next month.

Shell said in a statement on Monday in London that Powell’s stepping down was capping three years in office, marked by sharp cutbacks in the company’s search for new oil and gas reserves amid the industry’s deep downturn since mid 2014.

Powell, a geologist who joined Shell in 1990, will depart on Feb. 13 and become managing director of Brunei Shell Petroleum the following month.

He will be replaced by Upstream Strategy Vice-President, Marc Gerrits, who started his career in Shell in 1986 as an exploration geologist in Australia.