Scott McReaken has decided to step down as chief executive of John Fredriksen’s Northern Drilling and its semisub rig spin-off Northern Ocean.
No further details were disclosed, but both companies said they expect to announce McReaken’s replacement shortly.
“On behalf of the company, I want to thank Scott for his contributions. We wish him well in his future endeavors,” said chairman Gary Casswell.
McReaken was appointed CEO of Northern Ocean in December 2019 and Northern Drilling in December 2018. He has also been a part of the Seadrill group companies since 2012, where he served as chief executive and director of Sevan Drilling and chief of finance of North Atlantic Drilling amongst other roles in Seadrill.
He has served as the treasurer and secretary of the drilling contractor’s advocacy International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) since 2013.
Northern Drilling has no drilling rigs in operation or under construction, and its activities primarily relate to claims from the termination of the contracts for three drilling units at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), now Hanwha Ocean. Meanwhile, the touted-for-sale Northern Ocean, in which Fredriksen’s Hemen Holding is the largest shareholder, has two relatively modern semisub rigs, Deepsea Mira and Deepsea Bollsta, built in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
