Petoro's chairman, Mr Gunnar Berge, said the board is very satisfied with the appointment of a good leader. "Grethe Moen has a competence and experience which is very relevant for Petoro in the period ahead of us. She has intimate knowledge of the company, the petroleum business and the market in which Petoro operates. She has proved herself as a driving force for value creation", said Mr Berge.

Grethe Moen looks forward to the Petoro top position with a mix of humbleness and eagerness to get started.

"I feel humble faced with the responsibility for a company managing such enormous values on behalf of the Norwegian state. At the same time I have great expectations of the opportunities and challenges associated with this very special position in the Norwegian oil and gas business. I know that much will be demanded of me as leader of Petoro in a business environment marked by strong players. All the more important it will be for me to find support in the company's very competent and engaged staff", said Moen.

The new head of Petoro is a chemical engineer from the Norwegian technical university of Trondheim, but very soon got into the oil business when arriving in Stavanger some 30 years ago. She has held a number of management positions in various parts of the Statoil value chain, and came to Petoro in 2011 from the position as Vice President of Shell's exploration and production business in Stavanger, combinded with heading up the company's helth, safety and environment organization in Europe.

Grethe Moen takes over the top office of Petoro on June 12 – the day after current CEO Kjell Pedersen retires from the company.