Woodside Energy has appointed a new actingpresident and country manager, Kellyanne Lochan.
The announcement was made by Energy Minister Stuart Young in a press statement following a meeting with Woodside executiveves at his Waterfront offices on Thursday.
Lochan replaces Juan Manuel Vazquez who was in the position for the last 13 months.
It is the third change to the company’s top position locally in the last three years and in that time it also went from BHP to Woodside Energy following a merger of the two Australian companies.
Michael Stone, who succeeded Vincent Perriera as country manager of BHP in 2021, resigned after less than a year, which paved the way for Vazquez’s appointment. In a statement at the time, BHP said that Stone has elected to leave the company, after 19 years with it “due to personal reasons”.
Vazquez was with the BHP for 14 years before the merger and has more than 20 years of oil and gas industry experience.
The merger was completed on June 1, 2022 when Vazquez assumed his position.
Prior to his position as President and country manager, he was head of operations for BHP’s Trion project in Mexico.
In his statement, Young said he met with Shiva McMahon, executive vice president, international operations who introduced Lochan.
McMahon was accompanied by Marius Kotze, vice president of human resources, Woodside Energy and Dr Carla Noel Mendes, corporate affairs manager of Woodside Energy.
“While the Minister’s introductory meeting with Ms. Kellyanne Lochan was the focal point of the visit, discussions also surrounded Woodside’s current operations in Trinidad and Tobago and an update on the deepwater project Calypso. Minister Young extended his welcome and best wishes to Ms. Lochan and expressed his continued willingness to work closely with the Woodside team,” the statement said.
Woodside has estimated that Calypso has about 3.2 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Acting permanent secretary Sandra Fraser and deputy permanent secretary Ms. Karinsa Tulsie were also in the meeting.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Woodside returned a deepwater block to the government after an exploration appraisal found it would be uneconomic to develop.