Corporate Executive Committee News

The Equinor Board of Directors appointed Anders Opedal as its new president and CEO starting November 2, 2020. Eldar Sætre will retire after six years as CEO and more than 40 years in the company.Opedal ascends to the top spot coming from the position as Executive Vice President Technology, Projects and Drilling. He joined Equinor as a petroleum engineer in 1997, spent many years in Drilling and Well and served as Chief Procurement Officer. In 2011, he was chosen to lead Equinor’s approximately NOK 300 billion project portfolio.

Jannicke Nilsson has been appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO) in Statoil ASA. She takes over the role from Anders Opedal, who will lead the development of Statoil’s growing and increasingly important operations in Brazil as new country manager. Jannicke Nilsson will assume her new responsibilities on 1. December this year, Anders Opedal will assume his responsibilities 15 January 2017. Nilsson will report to President and CEO Eldar Sætre with her office location being Stavanger, while Opedal will report to Lars Christian Bacher, executive vice president Development & Production International. His office location will be Rio de Janeiro. Current Brazil country manager Pål Eitrheim is appointed new chief procurement officer.

Statoil appoints new chief financial officer (CFO), and launches business area for New Energy Solutions (NES). Three new executive vice presidents (EVPs) are appointed as members of the corporate executive committee (CEC). CFO Torgrim Reitan is appointed EVP for Development & Production USA (DPUSA) after Bill Maloney decided to not prolong his contract with Statoil. Hans Jakob Hegge is appointed new EVP and CFO. Hegge comes from the position as senior vice president for Operations North in Development & Production Norway. Irene Rummelhoff is appointed EVP for New Energy Solutions, and Jens Økland new EVP for Marketing, Midstream & Processing (MMP). Rummelhoff and Økland start in their new positions 1 June 2015. Reitan and Hegge will start in their new positions 1 August 2015.

Anders Opedal is appointed executive vice president and takes on a new position as chief operating officer (COO) in the corporate executive committee (CEC) of Statoil as of 1 April. Opedal will be responsible the corporate improvement programmes and for driving operational efficiency across Statoils business areas. “I am pleased to announce that Anders assumes this new position in the CEC. He will be a driving force in our effort to further improve the safety and efficiency of our operations. I really look forward to his contribution to develop a highly profitable, competitive and resilient Statoil,” says president and CEO Eldar Sætre.

Statoil’s board of directors has appointed Eldar Sætre as the company’s new president and CEO. Sætre, who has 35 years’ experience from Statoil and the oil and gas industry, has been acting as president and CEO since October, and assumes the role with immediate effect. "Eldar Sætre was our first choice. The industry and company are facing demanding challenges. Eldar stands out with his long experience and ability to create change. Those are qualities we need in times like these. I am extra pleased that we were able to recruit the next CEO from within Statoil," said Statoil’s chair of the Board, Svein Rennemo. Sætre has extensive operational and financial experience from Statoil. He has been a member of the Corporate executive committee since 2003.

Statoil President and CEO Helge Lund has informed the company's board of directors that he will resign. Helge Lund has chosen to leave Statoil to take up the position as CEO of another international oil and gas company. The board of directors has appointed Eldar Sætre as acting president and CEO of Statoil with immediate effect. According to a Reuters report, Statoil's long-serving chief executive will take on the top role at smaller rival BG, where he has been promised a big pay rise if he can turn round the flagging British gas and oil producer.

Normal operations are resuming at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria 18 months after a raid by Islamist militants killed forty employees, one of the plant's operators, Statoil, said on Monday. "The corporate executive committee has decided that ordinary rotation is to be resumed at the plant as all defined security measures have been implemented," Statoil said in a statement. The plant is operated by BP, Statoil and Algeria's Sonatrach. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)

StatoilHydro has been strongly affected by the news that three colleagues were on the Air France flight which disappeared over the Atlantic on 1 June. It is the Rio de Janeiro office that has been hit the hardest. Geologist Marcela Pellizzon (29) and lawyer Gustavo Peretti (30) are Brazilian citizens, while lawyer Kristian Berg Andersen (37) is a Norwegian citizen. A Swiss citizen who is the nephew of a Norwegian employee at the group’s office in Rio de Janeiro is also among the missing. Country manager Jorge Camargo in Brazil held an employee forum yesterday afternoon local time for all employees in Rio de Janeiro to come to terms with and give expression to emotions aroused by the accident.

As of Nov. 10, Øystein Michelsen, Helga Nes and Gunnar Myrebøe have been appointed members of StatoilHydro's corporate executive committee. Mr. Michelsen will take up the position as executive vice president for the Exploration & Production Norway business area, Mr. Myrebøe is to hold the same post in the Projects business area and Ms. Nes will lead the area for corporate staffs and services. Øystein Michelsen graduated as Master of Science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 1980. He joined Hydro in 1981, starting at Hydro's research center in Porsgrunn. In 1985 he started in Hydro Oil & Energy where his posts included safety manager for the Brage project…

Executive vice president for Exploration and Production Norway (EPN), Tore Torvund, and executive vice president for Projects, Morten Ruud, are resigning from their present posts and StatoilHydro's corporate executive committee. Reports indicate the resignations are a result of a probe into possible corruption in Libyan oil contracts. Øystein Michelsen and Helga Nes have today been appointed acting executive vice presidents for Exploration & Production Norway and Projects respectively. Both will join StatoilHydro's corporate executive committee. Øystein Michelsen has been senior vice president for Operations North in the EPN business area since the merger.

Risto Rinne M.Sc.(Eng.) has been appointed President of Fortum's Oil Sector and member of the Corporate Executive Committee as of January 15, 2004. He will also be President and CEO of the new oil company, which will be listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Rinne, who has held several prominent positions within the oil industry for more than 20 years, has most recently been President of the Oil Refining business unit. The current President of the Oil Sector, Mr Veli-Matti Ropponen, will continue as advisor to the group management regarding the initial public offering of the new oil company. He will continue to report to the President and CEO of Fortum Oyj.

Timo Karttinen, MSc (Eng), has been appointed SVP Corporate Development and member of the Corporate Executive Committee as of July 1st, 2004. In recent years, Mr Karttinen has been in charge of Fortum's Portfolio Management and Trading Unit. His successor in this position is Mr Per Langer, MSc(Econ) and BSc(Eng), also effective on July 1st. Mr Langer is currently in charge of the optimization of Fortum's power production.

Nina Udnes Tronstad joins Aker Kvaerner as President for the offshore yard at Verdal. She comes from a position as Executive Vice President for HSE in Statoil where she has been a member of the corporate executive committee since April 2005. She will start 1 September 2007. She will report to Mr. Bjørnar Skjevik who will return to his position as head of Aker Kvaerner's fabrication yards. Ms. Ms. Mr. Bjørnar Skjevik continues in his role as head of the fabrication yards in Aker Kvaerner. Nina Udnes Tronstad will report to him. Nina Udnes Tronstad resides with her family at Inderøy, not far from Verdal. She joined Statoil in 1983 and has had a number of managerial positions in the Statoil, including at its Danish and Swedish subsidiaries.