Repsol is an integrated global energy company based in Spain and carries upstream and downstream activities on a global scale. It has more than 24,000 employees worldwide that serve its vertically integrated operations in all areas of the oil and gas industry. Paula Carvalho serves as the head of legal for its Portuguese arm and was appointed during the restructuring of ex-Shell and Repsol Portugal’s companies upon the acquisition of Shell by Repsol in October 2004 and March 2005.

In this role, she provides legal counsel to all Repsol companies in Portugal regarding downstream businesses, involving marketing fuels, LPG and petrochemicals as well as an offshore wind power electricity project – making her a crucial member of the country coordination team within Repsol Portuguesa. Carvalho manages the legal department which includes six lawyers, as well as external lawyers – two permanent lawyers and ad-hoc contracting out for specific cases, such as M&A, competition of public law matters. Prior to this role she spent a large part of her career within the legal department of Shell Portuguesa, joining in 1991 as its in-house lawyer where she was responsible for providing legal support to the different business areas and associated corporate support functions. In 2004 she was promoted to head of legal manager, reporting directly to the chairman of Shell Portuguesa and functionally to the oil legal director of shell Group.

Prior to Shell, she had been working as litigation lawyer in banking sector, and she cites that moving to an international oil company was one of her most professionally significant and rewarding key career moments, explaining that: ‘I consider that this move moulded me the most, not only professionally but also personally, as all the learning and experience I gained in a highly competitive company where pan-European decision making processes and projects were common [and] the wide range of legal matters I dealt with, allowed me to grow immensely and discover my true vocation as in-house lawyer and ultimately in-house legal manager in the energy sector’.