North Sea oil firm Taqa said yesterday it had appointed Highlander Pete Jones as managing director of its UK business.
Mr Jones, from Fort William, will take the helm after current UK boss Leo Koot leaves for a new job at Taqa’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
A date has still not been announced for the handover.
Mr Koot, who has led Taqa Bratani – the firm’s North Sea unit – for five years, is to manage the company’s newly acquired energy business in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
His change of role was announced in January.
Mr Jones, who will be based at Taqa Bratani’s HQ at Westhill, near Aberdeen, joins from US company Marathon Oil. He is Marathon’s regional vice-president for Wyoming.
He has held a variety of roles in his time at Marathon, including MD of its UK operations during the development of the central North Sea Brae field and Devenick projects.
David Cook, executive officer and head of oil and gas at Taqa, said: “Pete Jones brings highly relevant skills and leadership experience to Taqa, where he will be leading the next phases in the evolution of Taqa’s North Sea business.
“We look forward to further expansion through exploration, development and the newly acquired BP assets.”
Taqa has oil and gas operations in North America, the UK, the Netherlands and Kurdistan region of Iraq. The firm produced an average of 135,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2012.