Keppel Offshore & Marine appoints Chow Yew Yuen as managing director

He will be reporting directly to CEO Tong Chong Heong.

Two Singapore-based oil and gas companies, Keppel Offshore & Marine, and Singapore Petroleum Company, announced senior management changes last week.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, which provides exploration and production services, said it has appointed Chow Yew Yuen as its managing director from June 1 2011, reporting directly to CEO Tong Chong Heong.

Mr Chow will assist the CEO while continuing in his role as President of the Americas for Keppel O&M covering the US, Mexico and Brazil. He will also support the CEO in driving the growth and development of Keppel O&M’s business by strengthening its competitive advantage in the fast-changing global offshore and marine industry, and enhancing stakeholder value.

Mr Chow, who has been with the company for 30 years, will return to Singapore from the US where he had been based the last 18 years. Keppel O&M, a unit of Keppel Corp, said Mr Chow was instrumental in establishing the company as a credible competitor in the Americas, and has helped set the foundation for its current standing in the offshore and marine industry in the region.

Separately, Koh Ban Heng will retire as CEO of SPC on June 30 and will take on the new role of senior advisor to the company he has served for more than 37 years.

Mr Koh said: “The last 37-plus years in SPC has been a fantastic and challenging journey for me. It has indeed been a great privilege for me to lead the company as CEO for almost eight years since August 2003.

“During this time, SPC did well with landmark acquisitions such as the BP stake in Singapore Refining Company, BP retail service stations and LPG retail business in Singapore, as well as acquisitions of upstream assets. I am also pleased with critical decisions not to buy certain exploration and production assets which later proved to be the right call otherwise we would have suffered big write off.

“The last eight years reflected a golden age in SPC’s history, transforming from a downstream refining, marketing, distribution and trading company into a small well-integrated oil and gas company with upstream production exceeding 11,000 barrels of oil equivalent in Asia pacific region.”

During his term as CEO, SPC’s capitalisation grew from over S$200 million in 2003 to reach a peak of more than SS$4.5 billion in 2008.