Woodside Petroleum chair Richard Goyder says CEO search process progressing
Board ‘well progressed’ in selecting a replacement for outgoing Woodside boss Peter Coleman.
Woodside Petroleum chairman Richard Goyder has played down suggestions Woodside’s search for a new chief executive is in disarray, saying the board is “well progressed” in selecting a replacement for outgoing boss Peter Coleman, but no formal job offers have yet been made.
Speaking at Woodside’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, Mr Coleman gave no indication of how long it would take to appoint a permanent chief executive, other than to say it would be made before Woodside made a final investment decision on its $16bn Scarborough project by the end of the year.
But while he said acting boss Meg O’Neill had “the drive and expertise to maintain momentum on Woodside’s growth projects”, Mr Goyder said a permanent appointment would be made before any final investment decision was made on Scarborough.
“We are following a very stringent process, as shareholders would expect. That process is well-progressed,” he said.
“We are engaging with quality candidates here in Australia and internationally and while we have not yet reached the stage of making any offers, we feel confident that we will have a strong outcome.”
“We’re also fortunate to have a board that is rich in industry experience, which is particularly useful as we prepare for significant investment decisions.”
On Tuesday Woodside up-ended their succession plan for Mr Coleman, announcing his early exit from the oil and gas major, and the appointment of development and marketing vice president Meg O’Neil to an acting chief executive role.
Mr Coleman had been expected to step down in the second half of the year, when a permanent appointment to Woodside’s top job was made, but will now leave its board on April 19 and depart the company on June 3.
Woodside said at the time its search for a new CEO remained “ongoing”.
On Tuesday Credit Suisse analyst Saul Kavonic described the CEO transition process as “shambolic” in a client note, saying Mr Coleman’s early departure possibly reflected tensions with the Woodside board.
Its new boss faces pressure from environmental groups to follow the lead of European energy majors and shift the company’s strategy towards renewable energy, as a decision on its major growth options looms, including a call on whether it will push the button on the $16bn Scarborough project, a joint venture with BHP.
Woodside made a decision a year ago to defer development of the Scarborough gas project due to the coronavirus-caused oil rout, with a final investment decision also set for the second half of 2021.
Mr Goyder told shareholders on Thursday the Woodside board was “actively engaged” with its senior management team as the company pushed towards a final investment decision on the project this year.
“This is a very important project for Woodside, for all of our stakeholders and the nation, and we‘re progressing as diligently and expeditiously as we can on that project. We will continue to move forward in terms of the commercial negotiations finalising arrangements with suppliers and contractors. We expect to be in a position to make a final investment decision by the end of the year,” he said.
“The CEO appointment will happen before that time, that will give the incoming chief executive to look at Scarborough, because they will be living with it for a long time. But it‘s not going to slow down the process.”
Mr Coleman told Woodside shareholders work on finalising the total cost of Scarborough was nearing completion.
“Final costings for project execution will be firmed up with contractors in the next three months based on the optimised design and increased capacity delivered last year,” he said.
“We’ve secured key regulatory approvals, including Commonwealth environmental approval, and have been granted production licences. We are working with government to finalise remaining project development and environmental approvals as we progress towards a final investment decision.”
Woodside shares closed up 19c, or 0.8 per cent on Thursday at $24.35.