Weatherford CEO Steps Down

U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford has said that Mark A. McCollum, President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director, has left the company, effective immediately. 

McCollum, an executive with four decades of experience in the oil and gas industry, joined Weathearford as CEO in 2017, having previously served as CFO at rival service company Halliburton.

He will now be replaced by Karl Blanchard, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Christian Garcia, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who will form the Office of the Chief Executive, reporting directly to the Board of Directors and will oversee the day to day operations. 

"The Board of Directors has initiated a search to identify a permanent President and Chief Executive Officer and will work with a leading executive search firm to assist in the process," Weatherford said.

"Weatherford delivered materially improved performance this year until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and actions by certain oil producing nations created unprecedented uncertainty in the energy and other markets. We will continue to focus our efforts on reducing costs and managing liquidity in the face of this challenging business environment," said Thomas Bates, Jr., Chairman of the Board.

"Karl and Christian have demonstrated that they have the experience and ability to assume these expanded responsibilities. We are confident in their leadership of the Company during this interim period as we conduct the search for a Chief Executive Officer."

Bates said: "On behalf of the Board, we thank Mark for his contributions to Weatherford. We wish him the best."