Ipieca, the global oil and gas industry association for advancing environmental and social performance, has appointed Equinor's Morten Mikkelsen as its new Chair.
Morten brings nearly 40 years of oil and gas and energy industry experience to his new role at Ipieca, which he will carry out in conjunction with his current position at global energy company Equinor.
During his 13years to date at Equinor, Morten has been in Vice President roles for majorfield development projects, field operations andwith Corporate Sustainability in which he was part of the leadership team which built up a new corporate function for sustainability.
Prior to working at Equinor, Bergen-based Mikkelsen spent over 20 years at Norsk Hydro, which in 2007 merged with Equinor (known as Statoil at the time), where he managed petroleum technology for several fields at the Norwegian Continental Shelfand reservoir research teams, both with a special focus on improved oil recovery.
Having previously held the post of Ipieca Vice Chair for the last three years, Morten takes over the role of Chair from Shell's Vice President for Sustainability Rupert Thomas, who steps down having completed his two two-year terms. Morten appointment was ratified during the association's recent 2020 annual general meeting.
Commenting on his new role as Ipieca Chair, Morten Mikkelsen said, 'I feel privileged to have the opportunity to serve as Chair of this outstanding organisation. Ipieca's work in the areas of environmental and social performance through its 45 years of history has always been important. However, I believe the role of Ipieca has never been more meaningful than now due to the challenges related to climate change and the role of oil and gas in the energy transition and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.'
Ipieca Executive Director Brian Sullivan said,'With decades of experience as a sustainability and oil and gas expert at Equinor, one of the world's largest energy companies, Morten will provide valuable insights and direction across our climate, environment, social and oil spill preparedness work streams, ensuring that cross cutting sustainability issues are at the core of each one.
'I would also like to thank Morten's predecessor, Shell's VP for Sustainability Rupert Thomas for his four years of leadership which among other highlights saw us produce low-emissions pathways to support the Paris Agreement and work with the United Nations Develop Programme and the International Finance Corporation to release Mapping the oil and gas industry to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas.'
Founded in 1974 at the request of the United Nations Environment Programme, Ipieca is the only global association involving both the upstream and downstream oil and gas industry and remains the sector's principal channel of communication with the United Nations.
The not-for-profit develops, shares and promotes good practice and knowledge to help the industry and improve its environmental and social performance.
