KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 21): Sapura Energy Bhd’s president and chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin, one of the highest paid top executives in town, will retire from his posts upon turning 60 in March next year.

In a bourse filing, the oil and gas (O&G) giant, in which Permodalan Nasional Bhd controls a 32.8% stake, announced its board has appointed Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib as its chief operating officer and CEO designate effective next month, as part of a six-month transition.

Mohd Anuar Taib, who joined Sapura Energy last month, is no stranger to the O&G industry. Prior to this appointment, Anuar Taib was the executive vice president and CEO of the upstream division at Petronas. He left the national oil firm a year ago. He was the chairman of the Shell Companies in Malaysia in 2010.  

Shahril, who co-founded Sapura Energy and holds a 13.9% stake, has been at the helm for 25 years, including the early years in SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd before the merger with Kencana Petroleum Bhd.  

“Under his leadership, Sapura Energy has grown from a domestic focused player into a renowned global O&G company serving the entire upstream value chain. This includes becoming a regional independent oil company via SapuraOMV, with net resources in excess of 260MMboe (million barrels of oil equivalent), serving a significant part of Malaysia’s natural gas requirement

“Shahril’s legacy will be the group’s highly skilled and technically capable multinational human capital, strategic world-class assets, sound processes and strong project management capabilities,” said Sapura Energy chairman Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas.

Sapura shares finished 0.5 sen higher at 12 sen apiece, valuing it at some RM1.84 billion. It saw 123.06 million shares changing hands today.