Wintershall Norge names new managing director

German oil company Wintershall has announced Hugo Dijkgraaf as the new managing director of its Norwegian subsidiary, Wintershall Norge.

Wintershall Norge, which in October last year celebrated ten years of operations in Norway, said on Wednesday that Dijkgraaf would take on the position in November this year, pending the appointment by the Wintershall Norge supervisory board.

Dijkgraaf has been with Wintershall since 2000 and currently holds the position of vice president and project director of the Maria development, the company’s flagship development in Norway.

“I am proud to take over from Bernd Schrimpf, and I look forward to continue working with all our talented people. With the solid foundation laid over more than ten years in Norway, I firmly believe that we will successfully deliver our development projects Maria and Skarfjell and continue as an active and profitable player on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in all exploration, development and production stages,” he said.

Over the past 17 years, Dijkgraaf held various technical and managerial positions in Germany’s internationally active oil and gas producer. He worked across a broad range of disciplines including subsurface, strategic planning, development, and operations including offshore platform management. He gained extensive international experience in Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina, Libya, and Norway.

Over the last five years, he has been responsible for the development of the Maria field, which is managed out of the Stavanger office.

Until his successor takes over, the retiring Schrimpf, who has managed the company since 2010, will continue as managing director. “It’s been an amazing journey. When I came to Stavanger I didn’t foresee such a rapid development from pure exploration to a full-scale oil and gas company and in fact one of the largest producers on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The whole organization has contributed to this success,” said Schrimpf.