DISAPPOINTING TRADING UPDATE
Tullow Oil founder Aidan Heavey to resign
Heavey, will be replaced as CEO by chief operating officer Paul McDade after the annual general meeting on April 26
Tullow Oil’s long-serving CEO and founder Aidan Heavey is to step down in April and retire within two years, the company said on Wednesday as it announced lower than expected production for 2017 due to teething issues at a new field. The disappointing trading update sent the shares down about 3% in early dealings, erasing all the gains the stock had made earlier this week on a $900m deal to sell a stake in a Ugandan oil field to Total. Heavey, who founded Tullow in 1985 and named it after the Irish town where it was set up, will be replaced as CEO by chief operating officer Paul McDade after the annual general meeting on April 26, when Heavey will become chairman. "When you’re somebody who starts a business it is obviously hard to pull back from it, but you know yourself when you reach a stage when it has to be done," Heavey said, adding he would have left sooner if the oil market had not tanked. Analysts largely welcomed McDade’s appointment, saying it cleared up uncertainty. "I’ll...
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