Murphy Oil puts Cosse at helm

Hired in ’91, he succeeds Wood

— Murphy Oil Corp. has appointed Steve Cosse as the new president and chief executive officer of the company, according to a statement released Wednesday by the company’s board of directors.

Cosse’s appointment is effective immediately. His predecessor in those posts, David Wood, plans to retire after a 17-year career at Murphy Oil, which is based in El Dorado.

Wood will also resign from his position as a member of the board of directors but will remain as a consultant for the company for a year, according to the statement.

In an interview, Barry Jeffery, a spokesman for Murphy, didn’t say why Wood was retiring, but remarked that the change in management will not affect the focus of the company.

“The important thing is that it is business as usual, no change in strategy or focus,” Jeffery said, noting that Cosse was a natural pick for the position as he has been a longtime Murphy employee.

Cosse, a current member of the board, joined Murphy in 1991 after working as general counsel for Ocean Drilling & Exploration Co. in New Orleans, Jeffery said.

At Murphy, Cosse has held multiple positions including executive vice president and general counsel of the company.

The company’s board also announced that Roger Jenkins, the company’s executive vice president of exploration and production, will become chief operating officer — a newly created position.

Jeffery said Jenkins will oversee the day-to-day operations of the business, and that his new position reflects an elevation in status more than it does new job duties.

Jenkins joined Murphy in 2001 and became executive vice president of exploration and production in 2009. He helped with the company’s development of the Kikeh Field off the coast of Malaysia and the Eagle Ford Shale play in Texas.

Murphy produces oil and natural gas in or offshore from the U.S., Canada, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the Republic of the Congo. It also owns the Murphy USA gas station brand.

To focus on those operations, the company plans to abandon the refinery business and sold two U.S. refineries in 2011. It is trying to sell its refinery in Milford Haven, Wales.

Murphy announced its new executives after the markets closed Wednesday. In regular trading, its stock closed at $45.60, unchanged from Tuesday’s close. The stock has ranged from $40.41 to $70.27 in the past 52 weeks.

Business, Pages 27 on 06/21/2012

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