Schlumberger man to take on Borr Drilling CEO role

Offshore drilling rig owner Borr Drilling has named a new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company.

Borr Drilling said on Monday that it announced Patrick Schorn as the new CEO with effect from 8 September 2020.

According to the company, Schorn will succeed Svend Anton Maier who will remain with the company as a special advisor to the CEO. Schorn has been a director of the company since January 2018.

Paal Kibsgaard, chairman of Borr Drilling, said: “We are pleased to announce Patrick as the new chief executive officer of Borr Drilling.

“His extensive industry experience and his tenure as a director of the company make him ideally suited to take the company forward in a challenging operating environment.

“We also want to thank Svend Anton for his leadership and strong contributions to the company since its incorporation and look forward to his continued support in the role as special advisor to the CEO.”

Schorn is currently the executive vice president of wells for Schlumberger. Before this, he held various global management positions at Schlumberger like including president of operations, president of the production group, president of well services, president of completions and geomarket manager in Russia.

He began his career with the oilfield service provider in 1991 as a stimulation engineer in Europe and held various management and engineering positions in France, United States, Russia, U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and Latin America.

Schorn, the company’s chief executive to-be, said: “I am very honoured with the opportunity to be further involved in Borr Drilling and look forward to working with Svend Anton and the extended Borr Drilling team to deliver differentiating results for our customers and investors.

“Currently the oil and gas industry is going through a challenging phase, however in this adversity also lies our opportunity.

“The combination of the first-class Borr Drilling people together with the youngest jack-up fleet in the industry serves as a unique foundation to solidify our position as an industry-leading jack-up provider”.

This is not the first time that the offshore driller brought in Schlumberger staff to fill prominent roles in the company.

The previously mentioned Borr chairman Kibsgaard was also an ex-Schlumberger man who took over the role from Tor Olav Trøim.

It is worth noting that Maier was the CEO of Borr Drilling since the company completed the Paragon Offshore buy and the previous CEO Simon Johnson left the company in 2018.