MOSCOW, October 26 (Itar-Tass) —— Laurence Bates has been appointed vice-president of the state-owned oil company Rosneft.
He will advise the Rosneft president and CEO on the development of business. Bates previously served as vice president and project director in the Russian shelf division at British Petroleum.
“Making strategic hires of highly qualified senior managers with significant international experience is an important step in Rosneft’s transformation into a global energy company,” the company said on Wednesday, October 26.
Commenting on the appointment, Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov said: “The expansion of our international presence dictates the need for us to further enhance our management capacity. The task for our renewed team which includes Laurence Bates is to help boost the Company’s operational and financial performance and to ensure a rapid switchover to the best global business practices.”
Laurence (Larry) Bates graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics.
In 1998-1999 he headed the representative office of Baker Hughes in Uzbekistan, before going on to serve in 1999-2005 as operations director at UzPec Limited on PSA projects in Uzbekistan.
In 2005 he joined TNK-BP as project director for the Uvatsk cluster of fields.
From 2007 to September 2011 he served as vice president and project director in the Russian shelf division at BP.
According to the company's website, Rosneft is the leader of Russia's petroleum industry, and ranks among the world's top publicly traded oil and gas companies. The company is primarily engaged in exploration and production of hydrocarbons, production of petroleum products and petrochemicals, and marketing of outputs. Rosneft has been included in the Russian government's List of Strategic Enterprises and Organisations. The state holds 75.16 percent in the company (through OJSC ROSNEFTEGAZ), while approximately 15 percent of shares are in free-float.
Rosneft is widely engaged in exploration and production across all key hydrocarbon regions of Russia: Western Siberia, Southern and Central Russia, Timan-Pechora, Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In addition, the company participates in several exploration projects in Kazakhstan and Algeria. Rosneft's seven major refineries have convenient locations throughout the country, from the Black Sea coast to the Far East, and the company's retail network covers 39 regions of the Russian Federation.
Rosneft has been successfully implementing its strategy of steady production growth, supported by constant monitoring and adoption of innovative technology. In 2009, the company produced a total of 796 million barrels of crude oil (2.18 million barrels per day), thus posting a fivefold growth in crude output over the last five years. Furthermore, the Company consistently maintains high operating efficiency, and has the lowest upstream production and operating expenses among its national and major international peers.
Rosneft is also one of the leading independent gas producers in Russia, with an annual output of natural and associated gas exceeding 12 billion cubic metres. The company's vast and unique reserve portfolio ensures steady long-term growth in gas output. Rosneft is currently implementing comprehensive measures aimed at achieving a target gas utilisation rate of 95 percent, one of the company's high-priority objectives.