Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) has appointed Christiaan van der Wouden as its chief operating officer (COO) with immediate effect.
Wouden started his career with Shell in The Netherlands, and was later on assigned to work at the company’s various assets including in the UK, Rotterdam and the Dominican Republic, where he served as general manager of Shell’s joint venture with the government till 2000.
He then became general manager of Shell’s Petit Couronne Refinery in France until mid-2004, playing an instrumental role in achieving key company targets.
Christiaan relocated to Qatar in 2010 to oversee Shell’s contract and procurement business. In 2013, he was appointed chief operating officer (COO) for Al Kaarana petrochemicals, a joint venture between Shell and Qatar Petroleum.
After the JV was scrapped in January last year, he became senior advisor to QP’s executive vice president for operations for upstream, gas processing, distribution and refining.
Commenting on his new appointment, he said: “Orpic is one of Oman’s largest companies and is one of the most rapidly growing businesses in the Middle East oil industry.”
He added: “I am excited to join such a progressive and forward thinking organisation and I am confident together we can work towards making Orpic a leading performer.”
