The chief executive officer of Wintershall, Rainer Seele, will leave his position in the German oil and gas company in July to become the chief executive officer of Austrin company OMV, the Austrian firm said on Friday.
Starting on the 1st of July, Seele will replace OMV’s current CEO Gerhard Roiss, who is set to step down at the end of June. Seele’s contract will be for three years, with the possibility to extend it for two years, OMV said.
“Today’s appointment of Rainer Seele is a critical milestone which will ensure stability to OMV’s management structure,”
OMV’s Supervisory Board Chairman Rudolf Kemler said, adding that “in light of the currently difficult internal and external circumstances, the top priority is ensuring that the company is on track for a stable future.”
Seele said OMV is an outstanding company with huge potential.
“Given the difficult circumstances at present, we have to draw on [OMV’s] strengths in order to work together and get the company ready for the new challenges on the markets,” Seele said.
Seele has been the head of Wintershall, a major German oil and gas producer, and a part of chemical company BASF, since 2009.
He also became a managing director responsible for sales at Wintershall’s subsidiary Wingas.
Steele is joining OMV at a time of internal turmoil caused by falling oil prices and disputes within the board over the company’s strategy.
The announcement also came just one month after OMV’s board member responsible for exploration and production, Jaap Huijskes, said he would leave the company for personal reasons in the first half of 2016, around two years before the end of his contract.
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The contracts of the remaining two members of the board, David Davies and Manfred Leitner, will end in 2017.
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