Premier Oil hires Alexander Krane as post-merger CFO

Premier Oil has appointed Alexander Krane as chief financial officer for when the company's merger with Chrysaor completes.

Krane has more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry and was CFO of Aker BP from 2016 until 2019 before joining Aker ASA as investment director, Premier said.

He will become Premier's CFO on 15 April or when the Chrysoar merger completes, whichever date is earlier. Premier's interim CEO and finance director Richard Rose will resign at the same time.

Premier agreed in October to combine with private equity-backed Chrysaor in a reverse takeover. Harbour Energy, Chrysaor's largest shareholder, will own about 39% of the merged company, which be led by former Shell director Linda Cook.

Premier agreed the deal after coronavirus caused oil prices to plunge. The company had previously sought to raise $530m of equity to reduce debt and buy some of BP's North Sea assets but was opposed by some creditors.

Premier shares fell 2.4% to 18.91p at 11:07 GMT.