Industry body Oil & Gas UK has announced Deirdre Michie as its first female chief executive.
She will take on the role following the departure of Malcolm Webb in May, joining the team from Shell, where her career has spanned almost 30 years in senior UK and global upstream and downstream management positions.
Her appointment follows a search by the board of Oil & Gas UK led by the Curzon Partnership.
Having worked extensively in both operator and supply chain orientated roles, she brings significant experience of the upstream oil and gas industry, with a strong and proven background in strategic contracting and procurement, commercial negotiation and communications.
Deirdre Michie said: “I am really delighted to have been appointed to this important industry role and look forward to working with the high-performance team that is Oil & Gas UK. This is a hugely challenging time for the industry that will require us all – industry, government and the new regulator – to work co-operatively and collaboratively to ensure we address the issues that face us.
“This is a great industry, a key part of the British economy and with a UK-based supply chain that is world-class. Oil & Gas UK has a crucial role in helping the industry to emerge from the current downturn on a stronger, fitter and more sustainable footing that will see the UK producing oil and gas from its offshore areas for decades to come.
“It is a role I will greatly relish.”
Oil & Gas UK co-chairman, Trevor Garlick, Regional President – BP North Sea, said he was very pleased by the appointment. “Deirdre Michie’s strong oil and gas industry background will help her represent the broad spectrum of our membership, whilst also providing the strategic thinking and direction the industry needs from its trade association, especially in these challenges times.
“Oil & Gas UK has been transformed under Malcolm Webb’s leadership into a highly influential trade association widely accepted as the voice of the UK offshore oil and gas industry. With Deirdre Michie at its head, our representative body will be in good hands.”
Deirdre is married with two sons who both studying chemical engineering.
Malcolm Webb will formally retire from Oil & Gas UK at the end of May after more than 40 years in the oil and gas industry, both in the UK and abroad. He joined the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) as chief executive in 2004.
He was subsequently instrumental in the opening up of membership to all companies working on the UK continental shelf, both operator and contractor, transforming UKOOA into Oil & Gas UK in 2007, the industry’s leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry.
More to follow
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