By Christopher Bjork
MADRID--Spanish oil company Repsol SA said its chairman and top
executive for more than a decade, Antonio Brufau, plans to hand
over his remaining executive powers to the company's chief
executive later this year.
CEO Josu Jon Imaz has run day-to-day business at Repsol since he
was promoted to the job in April last year. But Mr. Brufau had kept
oversight of the finance and communication divisions and is still
officially the firm's top executive.
Under the plans, outlined in a regulatory filing Thursday, Mr.
Brufau will continue to chair Repsol's board of directors in a
nonexecutive capacity for the next four years. The handover of
powers will be voted on during an April 30 board meeting, Repsol
said.
The carefully planned transition comes after Repsol late last
year agreed to pay $8.3 billion to take over Canadian oil firm
Talisman Energy Inc., in what remains the largest takeover by any
integrated oil firm since crude prices started plunging last
summer.
The purchase will double Repsol's daily oil production and
establish it among the top 15 producers in the world.
Mr. Imaz, a chemical engineer and former politician, ran
Repsol's refining operations before he was promoted to CEO.
Mr. Brufau is taking a step back after closing a particularly
thorny chapter in Repsol's history. In 2012, the government of
Argentina moved to nationalize its unit YPF SA, leaving Repsol
without significant oil reserves and in a difficult financial
situation. After first going after Argentina in international
courts and through diplomatic channels, the parties reached a
settlement by which Repsol received $5 billion in compensation for
the expropriation. That money is now being plowed into
Talisman.
Write to Christopher Bjork at christopher.bjork@wsj.com
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