Statoil Appoints COO

Anders Opedal is appointed executive vice president and takes on a new position as chief operating officer (COO) in the corporate executive committee (CEC) of Statoil as of 1 April.

Opedal will be responsible the corporate improvement programmes and for driving operational efficiency across Statoils business areas.

“I am pleased to announce that Anders assumes this new position in the CEC. He will be a driving force in our effort to further improve the safety and efficiency of our operations. I really look forward to his contribution to develop a highly profitable, competitive and resilient Statoil,” says president and CEO Eldar Sætre.

Anders Opedal comes from the position as senior vice president of projects in Statoil’s Technology, Projects and Drilling business area, where since 2010 he has been responsible for Statoil’s approximately NOK 300 billion project portfolio. Previously he has held a range of positions in drilling and well, procurement and projects. Anders Opedal joined Statoil in 1997 as a petroleum engineer in the Statfjord operations.

“We must prepare for challenging times ahead. Uncertainty and volatility will remain a key part of our business environment. Against this backdrop, I have decided to establish a COO role to drive our corporate-wide efforts to strengthen safe and efficient operations across Statoil. The current line accountability for the safe, efficient and reliable operation of our assets remains unchanged,” says Sætre.

Over the last few years Statoil has continuously improved its safety performance, and the serious incident frequency (SIF) for 2014 was at an all-time low. Statoil started to address the cost and efficiency challenge of the industry well ahead of the downturn in the oil price seen over the last few months.

The staffs and services project, strong prioritisation of spending levels, organisational efficiency projects in the line (OE), and last but not least the Statoil technical efficiency programme (STEP), are examples of how Statoil have been addressing this fundamental challenge of efficiency and competitiveness.

“The COO will play a key role in the further development of Statoil. I want Anders to lead the process of reviewing the corporate operating model with emphasis on simplification and efficiency,” says Sætre.

Anders has an MBA from Heriot-Watt University and an engineering degree from NTH. He lives in Sandnes, Norway.