The oil and gas veteran who has led the establishment of EnQuest as a leading North Sea player has announced plans to retire.
David Heslop will hand over leadership of the oil and gas firm’s UK North Sea division to Neil McCulloch, who will become president, North Sea, from April 1.
Mr McCulloch joins EnQuest from Vienna-based oil and gas company OMV, where he was the senior vice-president production and engineering. Prior to this, Mr McCulloch spent 11 years with BG Group in a range of senior UK and international roles, most recently as vice-president and asset general manager, UK Upstream, overseeing BG’s UK North Sea business.
Amjad Bseisu, chief executive of EnQuest, praised Mr Heslop’s role in establishing the company. EnQuest confirms Mr Heslop will continue to support the FTSE250 company in an advisory capacity on special projects.
Mr Bseisu said: “The board and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to David for his contribution to EnQuest in our formative years.
“His leadership, knowledge and experience have been key to many of EnQuest’s successes and achievements and have helped us to build a world-class organisation in Aberdeen. I look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role with EnQuest in focusing on strategic initiatives for the company.”
Mr Bseisu also welcomed Mr McCulloch’s appointment. “I am delighted to welcome Neil as head of our North Sea business. With his wealth of technical and management experience in the oil and gas industry and in the UK North Sea in particular, I am confident that Neil will be an excellent member of EnQuest’s senior management team and will make a valuable contribution to the growth and development of EnQuest over the coming years.”
Late last year, Enquest EnQuest was given the go-ahead for the £4billion investment in the Kraken development and struck a near-£50million deal to buy North Sea assets from energy giant Centrica. The firm is currently redeveloping a former Seafood Park in a rundown part of the Aberdeen harbour to establish a 120,000sq ft office headquarters.