Over the course of 2013, the corporation began the sale of its US shale gas assets and cancelled a US$20 billion gas project that was to be constructed in the US state of Louisiana. A new CEO Ben van Beurden was appointed in January 2014, prior to the announcement that <answer>the corporation's overall performance in 2013 was 38 per cent lower than 2012</answer>—the value of Shell's shares fell by 3 per cent as a result. Following the sale of the majority of its Australian assets in February 2014, the corporation plans to sell a further US$15 billion worth of assets in the period leading up to 2015, with deals announced in Australia, Brazil and Italy.
The appointment of a new CEO in 2014 came prior to what announcement?
the corporation's overall performance in 2013 was 38 per cent lower than 2012