Total E&P UK Managing Director to Retire

Total E&P UK announces that its Managing Director, Elisabeth Proust, will be retiring shortly, after 38 years of working for Total.

Elisabeth 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 Elisabeth held a number of senior leadership roles as Managing Director of Total’s affiliates in Indonesia, Nigeria and finally, the UK.

During her three years in Aberdeen, Elisabeth led the completion of the West of Shetland Laggan Tormore project in February 2016. This was followed in August 2017 with the completion of the Edradour Glenlivet fields, a project that was finished significantly ahead of schedule and under budget. During her time in Aberdeen, Elisabeth oversaw the next generation of High Pressure/High Temperature 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, Elisabeth oversaw the relocation of Total’s Aberdeen office to a more modern facility that was formally opened by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in December 2017.

Elisabeth was a strong supporter of the North Sea offshore industry and 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 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. When she arrived the industry was facing a most challenging downturn. 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.”

Following Total’s recent acquisition of Maersk Oil, a further announcement confirms Morten Kelstrup, Managing Director of Maersk Oil UK, is also moving on.

Michael Borrell said, “Morten’s professionalism has been invaluable in successfully bringing together the teams from Maersk Oil UK and Total E&P UK. I thank him for his support and wish him well for his future.”

The new Managing Director for the combined entities of Total E&P UK and Maersk Oil UK will be announced shortly.