Cairn Energy names ex-Marathon man as new exploration head

Independent oil and gas company Cairn Energy has appointed Eric Hathon as the company’s new Director of Exploration.

Cairn said on Thursday that Hathon, who has more than 25 years of experience in the international oil and gas industry, would join the company from Marathon Oil.

While at Marathon, he was the Director of Conventional Exploration and was based at the company’s headquarters in Houston, USA.

Hathon will succeed Richard Heaton, currently Cairn’s Director of Exploration, who is retiring after 23 years of service with the company. He will step down from his role following Cairn’s Annual General Meeting in May 2017.

Following a handover period, Hathon will be responsible for leading all of Cairn’s future exploration activities. He will join Cairn’s Senior Leadership team and will report directly to CEO Simon Thomson.

Hathon joined Marathon Oil in 1991 as an exploration geologist. Since then he worked in several senior international management roles covering North and South America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Aside from his exploration responsibilities, Eric held asset management and international new venture roles at Marathon.

Simon Thomson, Cairn Chief Executive, said: “Eric brings a wealth of international industry experience, and I am delighted to welcome him to Cairn. I look forward to working together with Eric and the rest of the senior management team in delivering our strategic objectives.

“I would like to thank Richard for his significant contribution over his long career at Cairn where he has been a core member of the team. Richard has added significant value to the company, from the early days of managing the business in Bangladesh to his role in the significant discoveries in India and more recently with our exploration success in Senegal.

“The management change announced today is part of a long-term succession plan and will ensure Cairn continues to offer shareholders significant growth opportunities from a balanced portfolio of exploration and production assets.”

Eric Hathon, said: “I am delighted to be joining Cairn which has had a consistent track record of more than 20 years of exploration success in a variety of locations around the world. I am joining the company at an exciting time as it looks to progress the significant finds made in Senegal that has opened up a new basin in West Africa.”

Also, Cairn reached a total depth of 2,852 meters at the SNE-5 well offshore Senegal, which it started drilling in January. The SNE-6 well will be drilled immediately after the completion of SNE-5.