Keenan Leaves Apache Corp

Oil and gas industry veteran Steven Keenan, who was credited with a high-profile shale discovery for Apache Corp, resigned on Wednesday from his position as senior vice president of worldwide exploration, the company said on Friday.

Houston-based Apache told Reuters that Keenan's resignation is not connected to the well the company is currently drilling offshore in Suriname. The company said, "the drill bit is still above the first target zone in the Suriname well."

Suriname's state oil company Staatsolie signed a production sharing agreement with Apache Corp in October 2012.

Keenan has overseen the company's exploration operations, unconventional resources technology team and operations in the Delaware basin since joining Apache five years ago.

Keenan is widely credited with the Alpine High find in West Texas in 2016.

When Alpine High was discovered Apache's shares spiked as much as 14% with Chief Executive Officer John Christmann calling it a "world class resource".

However more recently Alpine High has struggled due to lower gas prices, with the company saying it would reassign capital expenditure to other areas.

Apache had hired Keenan from EOG in 2014 where he had worked on the Eagle Ford basin.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)