As the newly appointed President of PGS Geophysical, Diz Mackewn will utilize more than 30 years of management experience within the geophysical business to improve the synergies between the various PGS business units. Mr. Mackewn graduated with an Honors Degree in Physics from the University of Southampton in 1969 and for the past few years has served as President of PGS’ Europe, Middle East and Africa geophysical business. He joined the PGS group in 1993 as Technology Director for PGS Nopec, which was purchased by PGS in 1993 and later sold in 1996. Prior to joining PGS, Mr. Mackewn worked for two other of today’s major seismic contractors in various management roles including land seismic acquisition, seismic data processing, and participated in numerous research and development initiatives associated with 3D marine seismic.
The new PGS Geophysical organization will consolidate all of the current geophysical activities of PGS. The new organization is intended to create sharper focus, establish clearer responsibilities, share operational best practice, and streamline business development activities as one global business unit of Petroleum Geo-Services.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Petroleum Geo-Services, Reidar Michaelsen, said, “Diz is one of our industry’s most experienced and well respected geophysicists. He has proven himself with a consistently successful track record over the years and was an obvious choice to lead the premier geophysical organization in the industry. Diz is well liked and respected by PGS’ key customers and well known among PGS’ competitors. Since 1996, Diz and his management team have maintained a dominant market share in the important North Sea market. This continuing success has led to an anticipated 2001 North Sea market share that stands significantly ahead of PGS’ closest competition.”
Michaelsen went on to say, “The past PGS organizational structure has been successful in creating a strong entrepreneurial atmosphere as the Company has grown. However, the Company and the geophysical market in general have matured and a more cohesive global organization is now required. I believe Diz is well suited to pull the various PGS entities together, reduce administrative costs and add value for our shareholders. In addition, we anticipate that our customers will notice a more focused and cohesive organization that is better suited to address the global market.”