Qatar: ConocoPhillips Welcomes New President

ConocoPhillips Qatar welcomed, Gary Sykes, who will be replacing Erec Isaacson as its new President, effective May 1st.

A corporate gathering was held at The Four Seasons hotel to honor Isaacson’s term in Doha and welcome the new ConocoPhillips Qatar President. The event was attended by company associates, employees and families.

At the occasion of the gathering, Erec Isaacson stated: “It is with great sadness that I leave Qatar to my new assignment as President and General Manager of ConocoPhillips Indonesia. As I look back at my term as ConocoPhillips President in Qatar for the last 2 years, I am proud of the achievements that were made. It is during this period that our long term partnership with Qatar Petroleum successfully realized the inauguration of Qatargas 3 in November 2010” highlighted Isaacson.

He went on to add: “I am also extremely grateful that ConocoPhillips had maintained its engagement within the Qatar community in association with various Qatari NGOs – a commitment that we intend to keep as part of our company’s sustainable development outreach within our host communities and in support of the State of Qatar’s 2030 Vision and national development plans.”

Isaacson concluded by stating: “I would like to present my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to His Highness, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar who has been very supportive of our joint enterprise. I am also grateful for the privilege of working with the professional Qatar Petroleum team first headed by HE Deputy Premier Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah and subsequently the dedicated management of HE Dr Mohamed Al-Sada. Finally, on behalf of myself and my wife Lisa, I would like to extend a warm thank you to my team and colleagues at ConocoPhillips who have made my work and our life in Qatar extremely fulfilling, both professionally and personally.”

Isaacson followed his statement by introducing the new ConocoPhillips President, Gary Sykes, stating: “I am particularly happy that Gary Sykes will succeed me as President of our Qatar Business Unit bringing a wealth of technical and managerial expertise.

“Sykes joined Conoco in Aberdeen in 1990, where he worked as a reservoir engineer in our North Sea Operations. He moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1997, where he worked as the subsurface lead for Operated Assets in the South China Sea. In 2001, he was assigned to work in Houston as a Petroleum Engineer in the Subsurface Technology prior to his first assignment in Canada in 2003 as the Frontier Exploration Manager. Following an assignment in Oil Sands as Exploitation Manager, he relocated to Anchorage, Alaska, to take up the role of the Manager of the Exploration Evaluation and Operations division in 2007. Sykes relocated back to Canada in 2009 for his last post as Vice President, Canadian Arctic, ConocoPhillips Canada.”

In his comments, the new ConocoPhillips Qatar President, Gary Sykes, stated: “It is indeed a pleasure to be taking-over from Erec Isaacson. ConocoPhillips has always placed great importance on its Qatar operations and we will continue to do so in the future. We have every hope of further expanding our business outreach in Qatar and the region and will certainly pursue venues of cooperation with the State of Qatar.”

He went on to add: “We have also every intention of maintaining our corporate responsibility outreach within the Qatar community and will be looking forward to opportunities in the fields of education, health and community development.”

Gary Sykes had earned an honors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Glasgow University and a Masters degree in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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LNG World News Staff, May 3, 2012