Acting chief Keith Spence, who was also tipped as a possible successor, has been appointed chief operating officer of Woodside Energy, the operating arm of the Woodside Group.
Voelte spent 22 years with Mobil, finishing as president, new exploration and producing ventures, with responsibility for world-wide exploration and building Mobil’s corporate upstream global growth strategy.
In 1997 he joined ARCO as head of corporate planning, being promoted the following year to executive vice president, exploration and production. He was responsible for a world-wide exploration and production portfolio, remaining in that position until BP’s acquisition of ARCO in 2000.
Most recently, Voelte was the CEO of Chroma Energy, a private exploration and production company specialising in proprietary seismic pattern recognition technology.
Woodside’s Chairman, Charles Goode, said, "Voelte brings to the position extensive experience gained from holding a range of senior executive positions in the international oil and gas industry.
“This experience means he will bring to Woodside the strategic leadership to plan and lead the company's continued development after the current large suite of projects come into production.
Voelte will begin his engagement on 5 April, and will reside in Perth. He will earn $1.35m including superannuation over his 5 year contract.
Goode thanked Spence for his efforts during the search for a new CEO. “The Board wishes to acknowledge the role Keith has played as acting CEO. In this role, he has provided strong support to the Board and clear leadership to the organisation that has enabled the company to continue its drive to performance improvement.”
Goode said Spence’s appointment should ensure a continuity of operational and technical focus on Woodside’s existing businesses and emerging new projects.
“The appointments give Woodside the best of both worlds in that they recognise the visionary and strategic role of the CEO and the management and operational role of the Chief Operating Officer,” he said.
