Murphy Oil CEO resumes duties after returning from medical leave

President and chief executive officer (CEO) of U.S. oil and gas company Murphy Oil has resumed his responsibilities at the company after recovering from what was presumed to be COVID-19.

Murphy Oil CEO Roger Jenkins took a temporary leave of absence over a “presumptive COVID-19 diagnosis” in late March.

At the time, the company said that Jenkins was expected to completely recover.

In the interim, David Looney, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO), took over the role of president and CEO.

On Monday, Murphy Oil said that Jenkins made a full recovery and resumed his responsibilities with the company. Looney also returned to his standard day-to-day roles.

However, the company did not confirm if Jenkins was actually positive for COVID-19 or not.

It is worth reminding that the CEO’s medical leave followed Murphy’s measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global oil demand through spending cuts.

Due to the recent commodity price volatility, the company in March revised its capital spending plans for 2020 and opted to cut spending by $500 million.

Later, at the beginning of April, Murphy announced it had made an additional reduction in the 2020 capital plan down to the new midpoint of $780 million from the previously announced $950 million in March.