Thai oil company PTTEP has named new CEO for its Australian business PTTEP Australasia.
PTTEP said Thursday that Ryan Hartfield, former Head of Contracts and Procurement at PTTEP Australasia, would take over as new Chief Executive Officer in Australia.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to drive forward PTTEP’s business in Australia as we begin a new chapter,” Hartfield said.
Before joining PTTEP AA in 2012, Hartfield worked for Mubadala Development Company in Abu Dhabi, and Woodside.
PTTEP Australasia was the operator of the Montara platform in the Timor Sea offshore W. Australia, which exploded and spilled oil into the ocean in 2009 . PTTEP was in 2012 fined 510.000 Australian Dollars in the Northern Territory Magistrate’s Court over the Montara incident.
The company sold the Montara oil field to Jadestone Energy in July 2018, and transfer of operatorship was completed in August 2019.
While no longer having an interest in the Montara field, PTTEP Australasia might still be affected by it. Namely, the company has recently been sued by Indonesian seaweed farmers whose livelihoods have allegedly been destroyed after the 2009 blowout and subsequent oil spill.
Also worth reminding, Indonesia in 2017 filed a $2 billion lawsuit against PTTEP for the Montara oil spill saying PTTEP had not shown good faith in resolving problems with Montara oil pollution that reached the area of the East Nusa Tenggara province.
PTTEP has claimed that no oil from Montara reached the shores of Indonesia and that no long-term damage was done to the environment in the Timor Sea.
Having sold the Montara asset, PTTEP AA currently operates the Cash Maple gas and condensate field, as well as several other permits in the Timor Sea.
Offshore Energy Today Staff
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