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GKP appoints New CEO

By John Lee.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has announced the appointment of Jon Harris as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Mr Harris has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and joins GKP from SASOL Limited, an integrated energy and chemicals company based in South Africa where he was Executive Vice President, Upstream.

Prior to this, he spent 25 years with BG Group in various international roles, including Executive Vice President Technical and General Manager Production Operations, as well as senior management assignments in the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Egypt.

Mr Harris received a Master of Engineering in Fuel and Energy (with distinction) from the University of Leeds, UK.

Mr Harris will join the Board of GKP and assume the CEO role on 18 January 2021.  He  will have a period of handover with Jón Ferrier who, as previously announced, will retire on 31 January 2021.

Jaap Huijskes, Chairman of the Company, said:

“Following a thorough global search process, I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Jon Harris as CEO.  Jon is an experienced executive who brings a wealth of highly relevant project delivery, asset management, production operations and technical experience within the sector to the management team and to the Board.  We look forward to him joining GKP and to his contributions. 

“On behalf of the Company, I would like to again thank Jón Ferrier for his outstanding commitment and contributions since joining Gulf Keystone in 2015. Under his leadership, GKP was successfully restructured and transformed, as evidenced by today’s strong operational performance, low-cost structure, robust financial position and pathway to further production growth and value creation.  We wish him the very best of success for the future.“

(Source: GKP)

The post GKP appoints New CEO first appeared on Iraq Business News.

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Genel Energy changes Organisational Structure

Genel Energy has announced the appointment of Mike Adams (pictured) as Technical Director, and PDMR, with immediate effect.

The appointment follows a repositioning of the role of Chief Operating Officer (‘COO’), which is now split into ‘pre-production’ and ‘on production’ business lines. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, Mike is responsible for all pre-production activities including exploration, appraisal, and new asset acquisitions.

Mike has 28 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in a wide variety of exploration, exploitation and global business development roles. Prior to joining Genel in 2012, Mike worked in a series of technical and leadership positions for companies including British Gas, Amerada Hess, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, and Sterling Energy.

Genel expects to appoint a new COO in due course, who will be responsible for the performance of operated and non-operated producing assets.

Mike has joined Genel’s Executive Committee, along with Vrijesh Kumar (‘VK’) Gupta, who has been appointed Head of HSE and Risk Management. VK joined Genel in 2014 as Head of HSSE. There has not been a lost time incident at Genel/TTOPCO operations since 2015, constituting over eight million working hours, and Genel hit its target of zero losses of primary containment in 2018. TTOPCO has also achieved a five star grading from the Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit, which was conducted by the British Safety Council.

VK has 30 years of experience in oil and gas industry. Immediately prior to joining Genel, he was Vice President for HSSE for BG Group, UK, and has worked with ONGC and Enron Oil & Gas.

Bill Higgs, Chief Executive of Genel, said:

“As Genel’s operations expand we are growing capability across the Company. Work is beginning at both Sarta and Qara Dagh, which Mike was integral in bringing into the portfolio, and he and his team will work with Chevron to optimise the development of these assets. He will also drive our ongoing work to strengthen the Company through value-enhancing acquisitions. VK has done a great job in leading the development of our safety culture at Genel, and will continue to ensure that our focus remains on world-class performance.

“I am pleased to have them both join our Executive Committee, bringing their years of industry experience as we progress our growth plans.“

(Source: Genel Energy)