Petronas confirms senior official’s resignation

National oil company has received notice of Anuar stepping down

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has confirmed that its executive vice-president and CEO of the upstream business Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib (pic) has resigned.

The national oil company’s chairman, Datuk Ahmad Nizam Salleh, said the board of directors has received notice that Mohd Anuar is stepping down from his position for personal reasons.

“We have received the notice,” he told reporters yesterday at a press conference after announcing Petronas’ first-half 2019 financial performance.

Mohd Anuar tendered his resignation from Petronas on Monday.

Ahmad Nizam stressed that Petronas had a succession plan in place and that Mohd Anuar’s departure would affect the group, moving forward.

“Petronas, as a group, has a strong retention policy, but we do respect personal choices.

“He has already notified us of his personal preference and we respect that,” Ahmad Nizam said.

“We will be making an announcement in the short term,” he added when asked about who would be replacing Mohd Anuar.

On June 30, Petronas clarified that Mohd Anuar would remain in his position as its executive vice-president and CEO of the upstream business after certain media reports speculated on his resignation.

This came about after June 28. Petronas’ subsidiary, Petronas Gas Bhd (Pgas), had announced the departure of Mohd Anuar as its chairman and director, effective July 1.

The position as Pgas chairman was replaced by Adif Zulkifli, who is the executive vice-president and CEO of the gas and new energy business division of Petronas.

Mohd Anuar, 51, built his career in the oil and gas industry with international oil major Shell.

Prior to joining Petronas in 2012, he was the vice-president of Shell Upstream International Asia and chairman of Shell Malaysia.

He was said to be Shell Malaysia’s youngest chairman.

He joined Shell after graduating from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1990.