New head of international E&P

Richard Hubbard has been appointed an executive vice president of Statoil with responsibility for its international exploration and production business. He joins the group on 1 November to replace Rolf Magne Larsen, who is moving on the same date to a newly-established post as regional manager for Statoil's operations in the Caspian.

Mr Hubbard (49) is currently in charge of BP Amoco's operations in Brazil, which span most of the business areas in this international energy group. Educated as geologist, he joined BP in 1974 and served in such posts as chief geologist for the group's operations in Alaska and on the UK continental shelf. Mr Hubbard played a key role in the early 1990s in reorganising BP's international exploration activities. The group pulled out of a number of areas, and framed a new global strategy. Part of this was an alliance with Statoil which included exploration in Azerbaijan, Angola and Vietnam.

Mr Hubbard was subsequently responsible for following up the new strategy as chief geologist at BP Exploration in 1991-94. He has since headed BP Exploration's planning unit, and spent two years as exploration manager at Britain's Monument Oil & Gas. "I'm very pleased to be joining Statoil, and look forward to helping to build a strong international business," Mr Hubbard comments.

His predecessor, Mr Larsen (46), became head of Statoil's international E&P operations in 1995. Educated as a geologist, he joined the group in 1978. Before 1995, he held several senior positions relating to operations on the Norwegian continental shelf. He served as chief geologist for Statoil in 1985-90, then as senior vice president for exploration.