Ex-BP chief Tony Hayward has stepped into Genel Energy’s chairman role after Rodney Chase tendered his resignation.
Murat Özgül, previously president of Turkey and KRI, has since been promoted to chief executive and appointed to the board.
Hayward said: “Rodney has been a driving force in the establishment of Genel Energy as a respected London-listed company. It has been a great pleasure working with him, and on behalf of the Board and the Company I would like to express my sincere gratitude for his leadership through the IPO and over the past four years, which has helped make Genel the company it is today.
“Murat has been a longstanding member of the Genel executive team and has overseen the growth of our KRI production to over 100,000 bopd. This makes Genel one of the largest independent oil producers on the London Stock Exchange in addition to being the largest holder of reserves and resources in the KRI.”
Özgül was previously fined by the UK’s Financial Services Authority in 2010 because of share dealing around the time of a possible merger of Genel Enerji and Heritage Oil Plc. The FSA later concluded that he didn’t set out to commit market abuse, according to Genel.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Hayward labelled the Özgül’s actions a “schoolboy error”, adding there was no reason for investors to be concerned.
The leadership reshuffle comes after Genel reported at 42% decrease of crude oil realisations to $42/bbl.
Despite the dip, the company managed to increase production by 41% year-on-year to 88,800 bopd.
Hayward added: “This increase has been integral in helping the Kurdistan Regional Government achieve its export goals, and the KRG is firmly committed to ensuring companies are paid in full for their production. Over 600,000 bopd of exports are now flowing to Ceyhan and, as distribution of the resulting revenues stabilises, the KRG is moving towards a financial position from which to make export payments to contractors.”
Total revenue for the first half of the year totalled $200million, with capital expenditure topping out at $90million.
Genel’s shares drooped 2.8% today to 462.5 pence, extending this year’s decline to 34%.
By Rita Brown