Total E&P UK head to retire after 38 years of service

Managing director of Total E&P UK will be retiring shortly after nearly forty years of working for Total.

Total said on Wednesday that Elisabeth Proust, the managing director of Total E&P UK, would retire following 38 years of service.

Proust began her career as a junior drilling supervisor with Elf Aquitaine, now Total, in 1980. An engineer by profession, she worked as one of the company’s development engineering and project management specialists, which led to her appointment as the first female vice president for development engineering for Total worldwide.

Later in her career, she held several senior leadership roles as a managing director of Total’s affiliates in Indonesia, Nigeria and finally, the UK.

During her three years in Aberdeen, Proust led the completion of the West of Shetland Laggan Tormore project in February 2016 followed with the completion of the Edradour Glenlivet fields in August 2017.

In Aberdeen, Proust oversaw the drilling on Total’s Elgin Franklin asset, which contributed to Total E&P UK’s operated production exceeding 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2017.

Most recently, she oversaw the relocation of Total’s Aberdeen office to a more modern facility that was opened by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in December 2017.

Proust also served on the boards of Oil and Gas UK, the Oil and Gas Technology Centre, and the Oil and Gas Authorities’ Technology Leadership Board.

Michael Borrell, Total’s senior vice president for the North Sea and Russia, said: “I’d like to thank Elisabeth for her contribution to Total throughout her career and especially the tireless work over the last three years in the UK. Under her leadership Total E&P UK reduced its operating costs by 30%, completed major investment projects west of Shetland and restructured its business to improve focus on asset safety and production.”

Also, following Total’s recent acquisition of Maersk Oil, managing director of Maersk Oil UK Morten Kelstrup decided to move on and take the position of chief commercial and innovation officer at Maersk Drilling.

Total added that the new managing director for the combined entities of Total E&P UK and Maersk Oil UK would be announced shortly.