Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr 2 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Two senior management appointments took place in Kazakh Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. company (KPO) developing the Karachaganak oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, the company reported on Monday.
"Damiano Ratti takes over from Giuseppe Pasi as the new KPO General Director, and Luca Vignati succeeds Graham Scotton as the new Operations Director and Deputy General Director," the company said.
Damiano joined BG Group in 2006 and worked as Chief Operating Officer and most recently as Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of BG Italy. He has valuable experience in managing business activities ranging from exploration, power, gas marketing and LNG.
Before joining BG Group, he held various senior roles with Shell in Holland, France and Italy, including that of General Manager Natural Gas, responsible for strategy formulation and business development in Italy, France and Central and Eastern Europe countries.
Luca has considerable experience in executive roles and has a solid technical and managerial background combined with international experience gained in various overseas assignments such as in Norway, Tunisia, UK and Turkmenistan.
Prior to this appointment Luca was General Manager and Managing Director of Agiba - Egypt, a joint venture between Eni and the Egyptian Oil State owned Company, operating both onshore and offshore fields.
Karachaganak field is one of the largest operating oil and gas fields in the world. It has 1.2 billion tons of oil and condensate and more than 1.35 trillion cubic meters of gas. About 45 percent of gas and 18 percent of oil producing in Kazakhstan are extracted in this field.
Earlier, the field was developed by Consortium Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV. The Consortium members are the British BG and Italian Eni (each has 32.5 percent in the project), another 20 percent is owned by the U.S. Chevron, 15 percent - Russian Lukoil. In December, 2011 the Kazakh government and Consortium Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV signed an agreement to transfer a 10-percent share in the project to Kazakhstan. The agreement will come into force until the middle of 2012.