Songa Strengthens its Rig Organisation

Songa strengthens its rig organisation through the recruitment of Bjørnar Iversen as new president of Songa Rig AS.

Songa Offshore SE strengthens its rig organisation through the recruitment of Bjørnar Iversen as new president of Songa Rig AS.

Recent events have demonstrated the need for Songa to significantly strengthen its management capabilities. The recruitment of Bjørnar Iversen will strengthen our management capacity and – critically – allow us to be much more hands-on on key projects and processes. This, in combination with the recent appointments of new board directors with extensive financial and industry experience, will make the organisation much more fit to face the challenges ahead, says interim CEO and chairman of the board, Jens A Wilhelmsen.

Bjørnar Iversen will become president of Songa Rig AS, assuming overall responsibility for Songa Rig AS’s commercial relationship to Statoil on the Norwegian Continental shelf. Rig operation and Rig management will still be delivered by Songa Management AS, led by Vidar Skjelbred.

The new president of Songa Rig AS, Bjørnar Iversen, has extensive industry experience. Currently president and CEO of Odfjell Galvão Ltda in Brazil and member of the executive leadership team at Odfjell Drilling AS, Iversen has held a number of executive positions through his almost 16 year’s tenure at Odfjell Drilling. He has also been executive vice president for Business Development and executive vice president for Odfjell Drilling Technology. Iversen has a Master of Science in Business (siviløkonom) from the Norwegian School of Business and Economics (NHH), and various management courses from Harvard Business School and NHH.

– Bjørnar has exactly the qualities we are looking for in his new role. He understands the industry and the business, he has extensive management experience and – as an additional bonus – is very familiar with Statoil and of constructing drilling units in South Korea, says Jens A Wilhelmsen.

Songa has built a unique relationship with Statoil and is assuming a leadership position in the mid-deep water segment on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, says Bjørnar Iversen. – Despite obvious challenges, I believe Songa with the new CAT-D rigs is uniquely placed to become one of the flagship rig companies on the NCS. I am very enthusiastic about getting the opportunity to play a key role in building this.

Source: Songa Offshore

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