15th Oct 2014 07:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - Oil company BG Group PLC Wednesday poached Helge Lund from rival Statoil to be its new chief executive from next March, and separately said it had started production at a block in Brazil early.
In a statement, BG Group said Lund, currently Statoil's CEO, will start as its own CEO On March 2, 2015.
"Helge's track record speaks for itself. He has built a world-class exploration and production portfolio at Statoil, and the company is now widely admired for its technical expertise, financial performance and strong, values-based culture. Helge is ideally suited to lead BG Group in the next phase of its growth," said BG Chairman Andrew Gould,who led the search for a new CEO.
"BG Group is a company with a strong set of assets and opportunities. I look forward to joining this organisation and working with BG's people to develop the Company's full potential," Lund said.
Norwegian state-controlled energy company Statoil said Lund had left it with immediate effect, and it has named Eldar Saetre acting chief executive.
"I could have continued for a period, but there is a time for everything. Renewal is important, both for Statoil and for me. I came to the conclusion that the time was right for a change," Lund said in a statement issued by Statoil.
Lund will be given a remuneration package that is "competitive in the international oil and gas industry", BG said. The package comprises a base salary of GBP1.5 million, a 30% cash payment in lieu of pension, a short-term cash incentive worth 100% of base salary for target performance with a maximum payment of 200% of base, an annual LTIP grant with a face value of six times salary, and a one-off relocation allowance of up to GBP480,000.
He also has a 12-month notice period, with the company reserving the right to make a payment in lieu of notice of 130% of base salary. He also has a buy out of unvested variable pay in BG shares of up to GBP3 million.
Separately, BG Group said it had started production on the Iracema area in block BM-S-11 in the Santos Basin offshore Brasil early.
"The start-up of the Cidade de Mangaratiba (floating production, storage and offloading vessel) marks first production from the Iracema discovery and demonstrates the excellent progress we are making in Brazil. With the Cidade de Ilhabela FPSO starting production by the end of the year, these vessels will add 82,500 barrels of oil per day of capacity net to BG Group," it said in a statement.
The Cidade de Mangaratiba can process 150,000 barrels of oil per day gross and 283 million standard cubic feet of gas per day gross, making it the FPSO with the highest production capacity to be brought on in the Santos Basin, BG Group sasaid it expects plateau production to be reached in 2016.
BG Group shares were up 2.5% at 1,051.00 pence early Wednesday, the best-performing stock on the FTSE 100.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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