Beach Energy has announced its new managing director and CEO, Brett Woods, will take up his new role three weeks earlier than expected, on 29 January.

Woods, who was targeted to come on board in February, was named as the head of Beach Energy in August and brings vast experience to the position including 10 years as chief operating officer at Santos.

Beach Energy noted in an ASX announcement on 10 January that Bruce Clement will continue as interim chief executive officer until 28 January 2024. Following a short handover period, Clement will then continue as a director of Beach in a non-executive capacity.

No official explanation was provided for the change in Woods' schedule.

Major board and management changes

In a further shake-up at the management and board level, Beach also recently named Ryan Stokes as interim chairman, following the news of the retirement of longstanding chairman, Glenn Davis.

Beach has been undertaking a recruitment process for the chair role and is in advanced talks with its preferred candidate, who is working through timing issues before they become available to join the board.

There were several other board changes at Beach in 2023, including the appointment of Clement as a non-executive director. Clement has over 40 years of oil and gas experience, which includes leading AWE at the time it discovered the Waitsia gas field.

Other recent changes to the board included the retirement of non-executive director Philip Bainbridge and the naming of Margaret Hall, as an alternate director, when Stokes returned to the board.

Stokes recently revealed at the company's AGM in mid-November that Beach is expected to announce further board appointments over the coming year.

Opportune time

The interim-chair said Woods is joining Beach at an opportune time.

"Brett will join at an exciting time for Beach as we focus on executing our major projects, which are expected to deliver a step change in production and cash flow. Brett's experience in project execution, operations and strategy development is well suited to support Beach through this next phase of growth."

Stokes told shareholders at the AGM that Beach's future focus will be on improving the company's execution across its operational activities and project delivery.

"I am confident in Beach Energy's future, given we offer a unique value proposition. We deliver essential gas and liquids to both the Australian and New Zealand energy markets, and soon the global LNG market.

"Importantly, decarbonisation of the energy grid will be enabled by the transitional energy Beach is delivering."

Key ongoing activities included working through the final regulatory approval for connection of the Enterprise discovery in Victoria and progressing the Waitsia Stage 2 project in WA for LNG sales to bp.