Jannicke Nilsson, who heads the so-called Step (Statoil technical efficiency programme) initiative, will replace present incumbent Anders Opedal who has been appointed the new country manager for Brazil.

He will take responsibility for leading Statoil’s development of a pair of pre-salt discoveries – the recently acquired Carcara gas find and existing Pao de Acucar field – off the South American country.

Opedal, who has largely been responsible for implementing major cost cuts involving redundancies as part of the efficiency drive at Statoil, will be based in Rio de Janeiro after starting his new job on 15 January.

He will replace present Brazil country manager Paal Eitrheim who has been appointed the new chief procurement officer at Statoil.

Nilsson will take over as chief operating officer on 1 December, based in Stavanger, having previously served on Opedal’s management committee after he became the company’s first COO in 2015.