Noble Energy COO David Stover To Succeed Charles Davidson As CEO In October

(RTTNews) - Independent energy company Noble Energy, Inc. (NBL) announced Tuesday that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles Davidson plans to retire on May 1, 2015 after being at the helm for more than a decade. The company said it intends to promote President and Chief Operating Officer David Stover to CEO in October 2014 as part of a management succession plan.

"Noble Energy has an exciting future that has been created over many years by an incredibly deep and talented organization. I am announcing my plans to retire next year with full confidence that the team led by Dave Stover will successfully deliver our exceptionally strong growth plan over the coming years," Davidson said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Davidson will serve as the company's Chairman until the 2015 Annual Meeting. The Board also announced that it will propose the election of Stover as a Director at its April 22, 2014 organizational meeting.

Davidson has been serving as the CEO and director of the company since joining the firm in 2000, and as Chairman of the board since April 2001. He has also served as the company's president from October 2000 through April 2009.

Davidson joined Noble Energy in October 2000 after serving as president and CEO of Vastar Resources, Inc. from March 1997, and as its chairman from April 2000. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of Vastar from September 1993 to March 1997, and held various positions with ARCO from 1972 to October 1993.

Meanwhile, Stover, who has more than 35 years of oil and gas industry experience, is currently serving as president and COO since April 2009. He has also served as executive vice president and COO since August 2006. Earlier, he served as Noble Energy's senior vice president of North America for two years and as vice president of business development from December 2002 to July 2004.

Stover joined Noble Energy after serving at BP America, Inc., Vastar Resources and Atlantic Richfield from April 1999 to August 2002. Earlier in his career, he held a variety of engineering, operations and management positions at ARCO.

"Today's announcement that Dave Stover will become Noble Energy's next CEO reflects the Board's extensive planning and confidence that Dave is the right leader for the future Noble Energy. With implementation of the succession plan stretching over 12 months, we anticipate this to be a smooth and seamless transition," Lead Independent Director Michael Cawley stated.

In Tuesday's regular trading session, NBL is currently trading at $71.04, up $0.46 or 0.65% on a volume of 0.19 million shares.