KUALA LUMPUR: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has announced the appointment of Datuk Ahmad Nizam Salleh as Petronas Chairman, with immediate effective.
Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin will remain the President and Group Chief Executive Officer of the national hydrocarbon custodian, said the PMO in a statement today.
Ahmad Nizam has been working in the oil and gas industry for 37 years and served Petronas in several positions for the majority of his career.
Among others, he had helmed the 80 per cent-owned unit of Petronas, Engen Ltd, in South Africa from July 2010 to August 2015 as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and also headed Malaysia LNG Dua Sdn Bhd and Malaysia LNG Tiga Sdn Bhd from July 2004 to October 2007.
He was tipped earlier to be the likely successor to former Petronas President and CEO Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican who left in 2010 and also Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas, who left in 2015.
Ahmad Nizam, who currently sits in the board of directors for Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, replaced Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan who vacated the post of chairman on June 30, 2018.
In his early years with Petronas, he held various positions as analyst, planner and project coordinator in corporate planning and finance sectors at the corporate head office from 1981 to 1987 and several positions in Petronas from 1988 to 2002.