About

Spotlight on Stuart Nicol

Stuart is head of legal and internal audit at Viva Energy Australia, one of Australia’s leading energy companies that supplies approximately a quarter of the country’s liquid fuel requirements.  Viva Energy owns and operates the Geelong Refinery in Victoria, and has a portfolio of bulk fuels, aviation, bitumen, marine, chemicals, polymers and lubricants businesses supported by more than 50 terminals and 55 airport locations across the country.  It is the exclusive supplier of high-quality Shell fuels and lubricants in Australia through an extensive network of 1,330 service stations across the country. 

Stuart has spent the majority of his legal career at Viva Energy, having joined the company in 2004 when it was part of the Shell Group of Companies and known as Shell Australia.  He was promoted to Viva Energy head of legal in 2019 and then took on responsibility for the internal audit function in 2021 in addition to his head of legal role. 

Stuart is responsible for the delivery of legal services to the Viva Energy Group via an in-house team of eight high-performing lawyers.  Under Stuart’s leadership, the Viva Energy legal team has been instrumental in supporting Viva Energy’s transformation strategy to become a leading convenience retailer, most recently via the acquisition of the Coles Express convenience retailing business and the proposed acquisition of OTR Group for $1.15bn.