Noble Energy COO in Line to Succeed CEO Davidson
CEO Davidson to retire on May 1, 2015; Noble to propose Stover's election as director next Tuesday
Oil and gas producer Noble Energy Inc said it planned to appoint Chief Operating Officer David Stover as chief executive in October, replacing Charles Davidson, who would retire on May 1, 2015.
Davidson, who took over as CEO in 2000, will be Noble's chairman until its annual meeting in 2015.
The company said it would propose the election of Stover, 56, as a director at a meeting next Tuesday.
Stover joined Noble in 2002 and was appointed president and COO in April 2009.
An industry veteran with 35 years of experience, he has previously worked at BP America Inc, Vastar Resources Inc and Atlantic Richfield Co.
Stover holds a bachelor's degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Noble operates in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in northern Colorado, Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale field, the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, offshore Eastern Mediterranean and offshore West Africa.
Like other U.S. energy companies, Noble is selling overseas assets to fund drilling in the United States.
The company said in February that it had finalized a deal to sell part of its stake in a massive Israeli natural gas project to Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd.
Noble's shares were little changed at $70.79 on Tuesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has gained 3 percent so far this year.
(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Ted Kerr and Kirti Pandey)
