Maersk Oil said today that its chief executive will leave the business once its acquisition by Total goes through.
The company said Gretchen Watkins would stay on until the deal completes in the first quarter of 2018, before going on to “pursue other career opportunities”.
Ms Watkins joined Maersk Oil as chief operating officer in January 2014 and has been chief executive since October 2016.
She said: “This has been a difficult decision for me. I couldn’t be prouder of the way Maersk Oil has successfully navigated what I believe will come to be judged as historically challenging conditions for the industry, emerging as a high performing business.
“I remain firmly committed to leading the safe and successful delivery of our business performance until deal closure, alongside overseeing a smooth pre-integration process, as we take the business into new ownership.”
Maersk Oil’s current chief operating officer Martin Rune Pedersen will become vice-president of Total’s operations in Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Troels Albrechtsen, chief technology officer of Maersk Oil, will be appointed vice-president for the technical centre to be established in Copenhagen.
The centre will be part of Total’s global technical organisation, supplementing the existing centres in Paris and Pau.
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