One of the leading figures in the North Sea oil and gas industry is going abroad for a new posting, it was announced yesterday.
Leo Koot, managing director of the UK arm of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned energy firm, is moving to the group headquarters in the Middle East.
Having spent nearly five years with Taqa Bratani in the north-east, Mr Koot will oversee Taqa’s newly acquired energy business in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Mr Koot, who is from the Netherlands, said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed building the UK business from a company of only a handful of people to a successful oil and gas operator with a very bright future.
“I’m very happy to be staying with Taqa and am excited by the challenges and opportunities that this new position will bring.
“Building the UK business from scratch and developing our own unique culture and values has been a fantastic experience and I’m hugely proud of what we have achieved over the last five years. As we continue to grow as a global organisation, it becomes even more important to share our skills and expertise with other parts of the business, and I am looking forward to using the experiences gained here to shape our operations in Iraq.”
When Mr Koot joined Taqa the operator employed only a handful of people in Aberdeen, but soon moved out of the Granite City to Westhill to accommodate its expansion plans.
Taqa Bratani now has a 375-strong workforce in the north-east, but supports more than 2,000 jobs through its contractors.
It has spent around £1.3billion since entering the UK market, starting with interests in eight fields and associated platforms it bought from Shell and ExxonMobil in 2008, including the north and south Cormorant developments.
Late last year, Taqa agreed to buy fields from BP for up to £818million in a deal which will boost its UK production from 40,000 barrels of oil per day to 60,000 barrels per day when it completes this summer.
In his new role Mr Koot – who started his career with Shell at Lowestoft but relocated to Aberdeen in 2000 to join WellDynamics and later moved to Energy Development Partners – will manage Taqa’s controlling interest in the Atrush oil block in Iraq, which the firm bought for nearly £370million last month. Taqa said it was now looking for Mr Koot’s replacement and that he would remain in the north-east until his successor was appointed.
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