Q2 2025: People on the move and company news of the offshore energy industry

New CEOs take the helm

Jadestone Energy has appointed Thomas Mitchell (Mitch) Little CEO. He has relocated to Jadestone’s head office in Singapore. He was also appointed to the company's board of directors. Read more.

Iberdrola has appointed Pedro Azagra group CEO, replacing Armando Martínez. Read more.

PXGEO has appointed Charles ‘Chuck’ Davison, Jnr. as executive chairman and CEO. PXGEO also appointed Alison Hazell chief marketing officer. Hazell joins Davison at the helm, while both continue to serve in their senior leadership roles at energy services organization, EnerMech. Both businesses share common shareholders. 

Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP), a specialist in offshore wind development, construction and operations, announced May 14 that Rune Damgaard has been appointed CEO of COP Philippines. He will continue to advance a 2-GW project development portfolio in the Philippines on behalf of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). COP is the exclusive offshore wind development partner to CIP.  

Waldorf Production's Paul Tanner, previously general counsel and commercial director, has been appointed CEO, and Tom Hughes has been appointed CFO. In addition, Matt Mulcahy, currently technical director, has been appointed a director to the board. Corey Duff, previously head of legal, has been appointed general counsel and commercial director. The aforementioned changes follow the departure of Erik Brodahl (CEO), Jon Bård Skabo (chief of staff) and Aaditya Chintalapati (CFO) from the company. Their roles on the board and leadership team ceased May 15.

Control Cutter, a global conductor recovery and subsea cutting organization, has named Bernt Arne Breistein CEO.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Compressor International Corp. has named Shohei Toyota president and CEO.

EnerPure Inc., a recycling and energy transition company that converts used motor oil into high-quality marine fuel, has appointed Rick Koshman president and CEO.

Additional C-suite and senior leadership changes

EnerMech, a technical solutions specialist, has appointed Tony McAnulty COO, a new role within the business. EnerMech also has named Mehul Tamboli senior vice president, Project Performance. 

APA Corp. has named Ben Rodgers executive vice president and CFO. Steve Riney will continue in his role as president, overseeing asset development and operations. As part of Riney's team, the company has added two executives to help oversee operations: Shad Frazier as senior vice president, US Onshore Operations, and Donald Martin as vice president, Decommissioning.  APA also promoted Aneil Kochar to vice president and treasurer.

Talos Energy Inc. has transitioned Gregory M. Babcock, former vice president and chief accounting officer, to interim CFO. He will replace Sergio L. Maiworm Jr., the company's executive vice president and CFO, who has chosen to pursue a new opportunity. The company has initiated a comprehensive search for a permanent CFO.

Cerulean Winds, a developer of floating offshore wind farms, has appointed two new senior executives. Tom Scrope joins as Cerulean Winds’ first CFO. Colin Maciver takes up the position of senior director, based in Scotland, with responsibility for project development and stakeholder engagement.

Koil Energy Solutions Inc. has named Kurt Keller CFO.

Seatrium Ltd. has appointed Dr. Stephen Lu CFO. The resignation of former CFO Teng Wei Ann Adrian was announced April 25. 

Oceaneering International Inc.'s Alan R. Curtis, senior vice president (SVP) and CFO, has announced his decision to retire from his position, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Curtis began his career with Oceaneering in 1995 as a financial controller and has served in a variety of roles, including most recently as CFO, since 2015. Michael W. Sumruld will join Oceaneering as SVP of finance on Sept. 1, 2025, and is expected to later succeed Curtis as CFO upon his retirement. Curtis will continue to serve Oceaneering in a supporting role to provide for an orderly transition of duties. 

Amanda Dasch has been appointed Ørsted's chief development officer and will head up Ørsted Commercial, which covers commercial development activities across Ørsted’s three regions (Europe, Americas, and APAC) as well as Trading & Revenue, Group Strategy & Innovation, and Group Stakeholder Relations. In addition, Godson Njoku has been appointed chief generation officer and will be leading Ørsted Generation, holding the overall responsibility for the performance of Ørsted’s European fleet of energy-generating assets.

Oxford Flow has appointed Houston-based Fernando Arce-Larreta chief commercial officer.

Technip Energies has named Marco Tiziano Barone chief legal officer and member of the Group Executive Committee. In this role, he will oversee the group’s legal, contracts and compliance function. He succeeds Michael McGuinty, who has decided to retire.

Hempel A/S has appointed Anne-Christine Ahrenkiel chief people and culture officer and executive vice president of People & Culture.

Managerial and director-level appointments

BRAVA ENERGIA S.A. has named Carlos José do Nascimento Travassos offshore operations officer, following the ratification of his appointment as statutory officer by the board of directors, replacing Carlos Ferraz Mastrangelo.

Erik-Jan Bijvank stepped down May 12 as Fugro’s group director for Europe and Africa to pursue opportunities outside the company. Moreover, Fugro appointed Niels Schallenberg group director Europe & Africa, effective July 1.

Hege Susanne Blåsternes took up her position as director of offshore development and technology in the Norwegian Offshore Directorate.

Helge Haugane has been appointed executive vice president for Equinor's new Power business area (PWR), which will combine the current business area Renewables (REN) and flexible power assets from the business area Marketing, Midstream and Processing (MMP). He will start the role in September when the organizational changes take effect. Haugane comes from the role as head of Gas & Power in the MMP business area.

ABL Group co-founder and offshore energy and marine consultancy expert Phil Lenox joins the international design and engineering consultancy Longitude as global director of its marine operations engineering business line.

Interocean has bolstered the incorporation of its Middle East entity by appointing Janko Bukovcan divisional director and Karthik Elango business unit director.

SGH named William (Bill) Bruin to the firm's senior leadership team. He will serve as the new structural engineering region head, west, overseeing the structural and marine engineering divisions in Oakland, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Newport Beach, Calif.; Houston, Texas; and Denver, CO.

Oil and Gas Asset Clearinghouse has selected Allen Gilmer, who was the co-founder of Drillinginfo (now Enverus), as principal partner and advisory board member. 

IMA Financial Group has hired Stephanie Crochet as its national energy practice leader. Based out of Houston, she brings more than 25 years of experience in the energy sector. At IMA, Crochet will oversee a team of more than 75 energy insurance professionals, helping clients navigate an increasingly complex landscape by designing risk strategies and optimizing insurance programs.

DUG has named Dr. Fabio Mancini regional chief geophysicist.

FTI Consulting Inc. has appointed Scott Cockerham a senior managing director in the firm’s Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment. Cockerham will manage the Power, Renewables & Energy Transition practice in the Houston office.

Renewable energy consultancy and service provider Natural Power has appointed Ewan Park its new HSEQ director.

Mark Trueman, currently Worley's group president of the Americas business, has been appointed to a new global role of group president of Major Projects and Programs. In addition, Mark Brantley, currently group president for EMEA APAC, has been appointed to the new role of group president of Global Operations.

Paul Hastings LLP has expanded its Energy and Infrastructure practice and Texas footprint with the addition of Christopher Richardson as a partner in Houston.

Grant Thornton, a provider of end-to-end audit, assurance, tax and advisory services, has promoted Tyler Jones, an Audit & Assurance Services partner based in Dallas, to the head of Energy. 

Vattenfall has appointed Catrin Jung the new head of Business Area (BA) Wind, which encompasses the company’s offshore and onshore wind operations as well as large-scale solar and battery projects. Effective July 1, Jung will succeed Helene Biström, who has chosen to leave the company.

Stig Magne Espeseth will step down as managing director for ship designer HAV Design and move into the role of senior vice president of design. He has headed up HAV Design, a subsidiary of HAV Group ASA, for the past 20 years. In addition to his role as CEO of HAV Group, Gunnar Larsen will, during an interim period, act as managing director of HAV Design until a permanent successor is in place.

Takashi Kakiuchi has been newly appointed MODEC's head of human resources in charge of human resources and the general affairs department and global human resources group.

Business development roles

Africa Energy Corp. has hired Dr. Phindile Masangane as head of strategy and business development. In addition, Dr. Masangane will join the company's board of directors.

Trendsetter Vulcan Offshore has named Barry Bulls the new business development lead for the US team.

Bardex has selected former Port of Tyne Commercial Director Ian Finch as director of business development to head up its UK operations.

Board of directors updates

Galp's board of directors has appointed Maria João Carioca and João Diogo Marques da Silva co-chairs of the executive committee (CEOs) for the remainder of the current mandate, ending in 2026. They have both been serving as interim co-CEOs since Jan. 10, 2025, and will continue to hold their respective positions as CFO and EVP commercial. As a reminder, Galp announced Jan. 7 that Filipe Silva resigned as CEO and vice president of the board of directors for family reasons.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) board of directors has elected Joe Leimkuhler, COO of Beacon Offshore Energy, as the NOIA chair for the 2025-2026 term. Eric Zimmermann, COO of LLOG, was elected as the 2025-2026 vice chair.

Koil Energy Solutions Inc. has elected Mads Andersen to its board of directors as an independent, non-executive director.

Nagi Hamiyeh has stepped down as Seatrium's non-executive and non-independent director.. Consequently, Nagi ceased to be a member of the Audit and Risk Committee, Nomination and Remuneration Committee and Transformation Committee.

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists has named Thomas Wilker its new executive director. 

Advanced Innergy Holdings Ltd. (AIS) has appointed former UK Defence Secretary, Sir Ben Wallace, KCB, PC a non-executive director.

Dolphin Drilling AS announced May 6 that board member Paul James Marchand has informed the company that he resigns from his position as a member of the board of directors.

W&T Offshore Inc.'s board of directors has appointed John D. Buchanan presiding director for 2025. He has served in that role since the 2024 Annual General Meeting and will continue as presiding director this year. 

Maritime Developments Ltd. (MDL) has appointed David Hunt to the company's board as technical director.

Steve Wisely has joined the Global Underwater Hub's (GUH) board. He will also lead GUH’s new contractor leadership forum, which will be launched later this year.

Effective April 1, 2026, the supervisory boards of SHS - Stahl-Holding Saar Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH and Saarstahl Aktiengesellschaft reappointed Jonathan Weber a member of the management board for a further five years. 

Meren Energy Inc. (formerly Africa Oil) announces that John Craig has stepped down from the company’s board and has been replaced by Cheryl Sandercock.

Energy Workforce & Technology Council has elected the following individuals to its board of directors:

• Chair – Sam Sledge, CEO and director, ProPetro Services;
• Vice Chair – Ron Gusek, CEO, president and director, Liberty Energy;
• Finance Director – Kyle Ramachandran, president and CFO, Solaris Energy Infrastructure, Inc.;
• Immediate Past Chair – Scott Livingston, president, NOV;
• Membership Director – Megan Oberly, VP, Marketing & Product Management, H&P;
• Policy Director – Matt Armstrong, VP Global Government & Regulatory Affairs, Baker Hughes;
• Well Servicing Director - Ryan Phillips, chairman and CEO, Axis Energy Services;
• Well Stimulation Director – Steven Anderson, CEO and president, Evolution Well Services;
• Chair Emeritus – Brian Groody, VP – OFS, North America Land, Baker Hughes;
• Chair Emeritus – Daniel Hindes, COO, ClearWell Dynamics;
• Director-at-Large – Derek Kamp, VP and general manager, Oil & Gas, Caterpillar Inc.;
• Director-at-Large – Gabriel Rio, president & CEO, Milestone Environmental Services;
• Director-at-Large – Lyndal Cissell, President, Americas Land, SLB;
• Director-at-Large – Mark Dawson, SVP, Completion & Production Division, Halliburton;
• Director-at-Large – Jocelyn Waggoner, VP – Core Technologies, TechnipFMC;

Company M&A deals

Eiffage Métal’s Belgian subsidiary Smulders has entered into an agreement to acquire fabrication group HSM Offshore Energy. Read more.

Dubai-based engineering group Sidara has submitted a proposal to acquire Wood Plc. This non-binding offer involves purchasing Wood’s entire and to-be-issued share capital, and a potential capital injection of $450 million. Read more.

Private equity company Gulf Capital has sold its interest in offshore construction and maintenance provider Kuiper Group. Asian Energy Services, an Oilmax company, has agreed to acquire 100% of the Kuiper Group from Gulf Capital and the founders of Kuiper and OCB Oilfield Services. Read more.

DEME acquired Norwegian offshore wind transport and installation contractor Havfram for about Eur900 million ($1.019 billion). The transaction is intended to strengthen DEME’s positioning in turbine and foundation installations. Read more.

New Fortress Energy has sold its assets and operations in Jamaica to Excelerate Energy for $1.055 billion. Read more.

DeepOcean has acquired Perth, Australia-based Shelf Subsea, which provides subsea services to clients in Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Read more.

DNO has completed its acquisition of Norwegian E&P independent Sval Energi Group from HitecVision for a cash consideration of $450 million. This figure is based on an estimated enterprise value of $1.6 billion, DNO added. Read more.

Santos has received a non-binding indicative proposal from a consortium led by XRG to acquire all its shares. The proposal was submitted by XRG P.J.S.C., a subsidiary of ADNOC and including Abu Dhabi Development Holding Co. (ADQ) and Carlyle. Read more.

Hunting Plc has acquired Flexible Engineered Solutions for £50 million ($68 million) as part of the group’s plan to grow its engineering capability in deepwater and ultradeepwater markets. Read more.

In Norway, Øgreid subsidiary Verket Investering has an agreement for the shares of Ramco Holding Norway and Ramco Norway from UK-based Ramco Pipetech Holdings. Read more.

Shell has not bid for bp and is not actively considering such a move, it said in an official statement in late June. The Wall Street Journal had reported that Shell was holding “early stage talks” to acquire bp, citing “people familiar with the matter.” Read more.

Kraken Robotics Inc., through a subsidiary, has completed the acquisition of 3D at Depth Inc., a subsea services company specializing in high-resolution LiDAR imaging and measurements.

Vallourec has entered into exclusive negotiations with Aldebaran, a French investment company, for the sale of its Serimax subsidiary, which specializes in mechanized welding solutions.

In addition, Vallourec completed the acquisition of Thermotite do Brasil from Mattr (MATR.TO) on June 5 in accordance with the terms of the agreement announced in September 2024.

Alliance One Oilfield Ltd., a designer and manufacturer of onshore and offshore drilling rig equipment, has acquired MH Croft Ltd., a software development firm.

Chart Industries Inc. and Flowserve Corp. have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock merger of equals. The combined company is expected to have an enterprise value of about $19 billion based on the exchange ratio and the closing share prices for Chart and Flowserve as of June 3. 

Baker Hughes has inked an agreement to sell its Precision Sensors & Instrumentation product line to Crane Company for a total cash consideration of about $1.15 billion.

Moreover, Baker Hughes has agreed to acquire Continental Disc Corp., a provider of safety-critical pressure management tools, from investment partnerships managed by Tinicum Inc. in an all-cash transaction for about $540 million.

Following up on the acquisition of the membership rights of LBC Tank Terminals Group Holding Netherlands Coöperatief U.A., which was first announced in March, LBC has become a specified subsidiary of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., effective June 30.

New company/rebrands

Africa Oil is renaming itself Meren Energy Inc., based on an old nautical term for mooring of a vessel as it docks. Read more.

Agilient Talent Partners, a new specialist recruitment firm, has officially launched in Aberdeen, offering what it says is "a fresh, flexible approach to permanent hiring within the energy sector."

eDrilling released its new name, Pions, in late May. The company is a developer of AI-powered engineers.

Joint ventures and alliances

Nabors Drilling Technologies and Corva AI have announced the expansion of their strategic alliance, reinforcing their shared vision to accelerate digital transformation in the drilling industry. Building on their strategic alliance, Nabors and Corva say they are extending their collaboration into the RigCLOUD platform to advance drilling intelligence and broaden industry impact. Read more.

Petronas CCS Venture, MISC Berhad and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines have formed the joint venture Jules Nautica. This will lead the development and also serve as ultimate owner of planned liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO₂) carriers, transporting LCO₂ to designated storage sites for carbon capture and storage projects in the Asia-Pacific region. Read more.

Petronas and Eni have entered a joint venture framework agreement on establishing potential terms for a new regional upstream joint venture company. This would combine certain upstream interests held by the two companies in Malaysia and Indonesia. Read more.

Equinor and Shell have chosen Adura as the name for their new joint E&P venture on the UK Continental Shelf. The partners say the combined operation will create the UK North Sea’s largest independent oil and gas producer. Read more.

Eni, supported by McKinsey & Co. and SAP Italy, has launched G∙row, a business alliance focusing on governance to drive the evolution of control and risk management systems throughout the value chain.

Baker Hughes has inked an agreement to form a new joint venture with a subsidiary of Cactus Inc., in which Baker Hughes will contribute its surface pressure control product line. Cactus, a manufacturer and service provider of pressure control equipment for oil and gas drilling, completion and production, will assume operational control, owning 65% of the joint venture, while Baker Hughes will retain a 35% stake.

HTS Dynamics, Connector Subsea Solutions and TESS Subsea have formed the Subsea Distribution Alliance. This partnership brings together manufacturing, engineering and distribution capabilities to ensure complete control and improved performance across the entire subsea distribution value chain.

New facilities and laboratories

Balmoral Comtec has invested £1 million ($1.32 million) in developing a wave and current simulation center at the Balmoral Business Park. It is designed to simulate surface, subsea and seabed conditions for assessing offshore wind facilities, solar and other subsea systems under dynamic water conditions. Read more.

CSA Ocean Sciences has delivered a newly designed and fabricated mobile science laboratory for Chevron Mediterranean Ltd. (CML). The container-based laboratory is designed to support CML’s offshore marine environmental monitoring and preparedness, and it is operating offshore Israel. Read more.

Fugro has opened a 550-sq-m geotechnical testing laboratory in Jakarta, Indonesia, which it claims should reduce testing turnaround times for its projects in the Asia-Pacific region by 30%. Read more.

ORLEN Neptun, part of the ORLEN Group, has launched an offshore wind farm installation terminal in Świnoujście, Pomerania. The company claims this is the first facility of its kind in Poland and one of the most advanced in Europe. Read more.

Eni Congo has inaugurated its new Yasika logistics platform on Saipem’s base at the port of Pointe-Noire. The new base is designed to ensure efficient delivery of equipment, materials and personnel to onshore and offshore facilities, Eni said. Read more.

LS GreenLink USA’s new cable manufacturing facility in Chesapeake, Va. is a first in the US for Korean-based LS Cable & System and represents a substantial investment in the American supply chain that will supply submarine power cables for domestic and international offshore wind projects for a projected global capacity of more than 380 GW of offshore wind by 2030, the company said.  

GeoComputing Group, an IT consultancy for oil, gas, energy, and other geoscience companies, has opened a support center in Perth, Australia. With its existing centers in Houston and Aberdeen, Scotland, this new expansion allows GeoComputing to support its customers 24/7 from any location with its RiVA geotechnical computing platform.

Motive Offshore Group has invested a six-figure sum into its newly acquired facility in Singapore, part of its strategic integration of Aquatic and its assets since acquiring the company in 2024. Motive says the investment solidifies its on-the-ground presence in APAC, following the opening of its first regional facility in Taiwan in 2021.

US-based Bardex has opened its new UK base at the Quadrus Centre, Boldon. This will become the company’s regional base for developing markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Bardex plans to develop additional UK-based engineering and manufacturing capacity for its hydraulic chain jacks, mooring connectors and tensioning solutions to support floating offshore wind, oil and gas, shipbuilding and repair, and decommissioning projects throughout the EMEA region.

Natural Power opened its new office in Dublin, Ireland, on May 8.

Global Underwater Hub (GUH), which represents the UK’s subsea industry, has backed plans for a high-voltage deepsea cable production facility at the Port of Tyne.

Toyo Engineering Corporation (Japan) and MODEC, Inc. inaugurated their Global Capability Center – TOYO MODEC OFS India – in Bengaluru this month. The center, spanning about 100,000 sq ft, will be a hub for engineering, procurement and FPSO project support, with plans to hire 750 employees over the next three years.

New office locations

MODEC has launched its Kuala Lumpur office. The company says the new regional hub will support Malaysia’s energy industry with offshore solutions.

Uni-Fuels Holdings Ltd., a global provider of marine fuel solutions headquartered in Singapore, announced the establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates and the opening of a new office in Dubai, located near Fujairah, in April. The company also opened a new office in Shanghai. 

Roll Group has opened its newest Americas Project office and yard in Saint Gabriel, Louisiana. This expansion allows Roll Group to serve the Gulf Coast region with localized expertise and fully integrated engineered heavy lift and project logistics services.