Lukoil senior manager Sergei Kochkurov replaces Vadim Vorobyov as CEO

MOSCOW. Jan 14 (Interfax) - The board of directors of Lukoil has decided to terminate the authority of the company's CEO early and appoint a new one, Lukoil said.

Sergei Kochkurov has been appointed Lukoil CEO to replace Vadim Vorobyov.

In 2022, Kochkurov was appointed Lukoil vice president for oil and gas production in Russia.

The U.S. Treasury Department last Friday included Vorobyov in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. Vagit Alekperov previously resigned as Lukoil CEO for the same reason.

Kochkurov's appointment as Lukoil CEO is part of work with the company's personnel reserve, Lukoil said.

According to the website of the United Russia party, which Kochkurov has been a member of for 20 years, he was born in 1963 and graduated from the Ufa Oil Institute, Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, and Institute of Oil and Gas Business. After graduating from university, he worked at Vatyeganneft, where he served as chief engineer from 1986 to 2022. He then worked in managerial positions within divisions of Lukoil-West Siberia, serving as first deputy CEO and chief engineer from 2010 to 2012. He led this key upstream subsidiary of Lukoil from 2012.

Lukoil said in 2019 that Kochkurov had become vice president for production services. In materials for the 2022 shareholders meeting, Kochkurov was nominated for the board of directors as vice president for oil and gas production in Russia. It was reported that he took up this position in 2020.

According to its 2020 annual report, Lukoil operated in 32 countries.