By Scott Wright
NORTH Sea-focused Ithaca Energy has rung the changes at the top, with industry veteran Bill Dunnett drafted in to succeed Les Thomas as chief executive.
Mr Dunnett joins Aberdeen-based Ithaca after a five-year spell as chief executive of Repsol-Sinopec Resources UK, where he is credited with leading a “large-scale transformation” of the business. He stepped down at Repsol “as planned” after his contract expired on March 31.
Mr Dunnett’s 35-year career in the oil and gas industry has also included engineering, operational and senior management positions in the UK and internationally with Petrofac, Halliburton, Mobil North Sea and Shell.
Mr Thomas became chief executive of Israeli-owned Ithaca in 2013 and led the company through its £1 billion acquisition by Delek Group of Israel in 2017.
That deal prefaced significant expansion by Ithaca in the North Sea, though in recent times it has been affected by the fall-out from the collapse in crude prices at the start of the year.
In June the company slashed the value of its assets in the wake of the crisis, which caused demand for oil and gas to plummet as economies around the world moved into lockdown. Brent crude fell from around $70 per barrel in January to an 18-year low of $15.98 in April, but has partially recovered since. It was trading at $44.81 per barrel at 5pm last night.
In its results for the three months to March 31, Ithaca stated: “As a result of the historic collapse in oil and gas prices at the end of the quarter, a post-tax impairment of $795 million (excluding the benefit of hedging) was recognised – this was partially offset by a $510m increase ($306m post tax) in the value of the future commodity hedges held by the company.”
Prior to the pandemic, Delek had underlined its commitment to the North Sea with the completion of a $2bn investment in the area.
It became one of the biggest players in the basin when it acquired the North Sea portfolio built up by Chevron in a deal first announced in May of last year.
Ithaca is due to announce its results for the six months ended June 30 on Thursday.
West of Shetland-focused Hurricane Energy announced on Friday that founder and former chief executive Robert Trice will be replaced by Antony Maris, a veteran of the oil and gas industry in Asia and the Middle East.
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