Tellurian Inc. named Octávio Simões as president and CEO on Nov. 30, replacing Meg Gentle who is departing Tellurian after four years at the helm of the U.S. LNG company.
Previously, Simões was president and CEO of Sempra LNG & Midstream where he was responsible for all LNG and natural gas midstream activities, including Cameron LNG, a 12 million tonnes per annum liquefaction facility that came onstream with first LNG exports in August 2019.
In a statement commenting on Simões’ appointment, Tellurian Executive Chairman Charif Souki said: “I watched Octávio put together a complex project at Cameron LNG with admiration. He and I together are responsible for 75% of the U.S. liquefaction capacity and I am delighted now to have the opportunity to work with him on Driftwood LNG, the next big milestone in U.S. liquefaction.”
Tellurian has not said when it plans to make a final investment decision to build its proposed Driftwood LNG export plant in Louisiana. Earlier this year, the company took steps to reduce the cost of the first phase of the Driftwood plant by around 30% to roughly $16.8 billion by deferring some planned pipelines.
On Nov. 30, Tellurian also added Jonathan Gross and Jean Abiteboul as new independent board members. The addition of Gross and Abiteboul, who both previously worked at Cheniere Energy Inc., bring upstream and LNG marketing experience, according to the company release.
Currently, Gross is an oil and gas consultant and his company Jexco LLC provides upstream exploration and geological services. Abiteboul is president of GIIGNL, the Paris-based International Group of LNG Importers founded in 1971.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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