Petrofac has lured Paul Groves away from a position at Shell and has announced the appointment of the business development expert as the company's new managing director.

A chartered engineer and scientist by training, Mr Groves has also previously worked for Alcan Aluminium and British Gas, although he started his career as a lecturer at Oxford University.

Maroun Semaan, group chief operating officer at Petrofac, said he is delighted to welcome Mr Groves to the training and development company.

"I believe the training business is not just a market leader in its own right but is also pivotal in delivering and enabling other growth opportunities for Petrofac," commented Mr Groves.

Petrofac has also this month announced that it has secured a new gas-field depletion-compression contract from Petroleum Development Oman, which acted as licenser for the work to be carried out at the Kauther field.

The company has been asked to complete the front-end engineering design phase of the project.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development