TAQA CEO quit over split on firm's direction

The outgoing chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Energy Co said on Saturday he decided to step down after his vision for the state-backed oil producer diverged from that of its board.

Peter Barker-Homek told Reuters the departure from the firm, known as TAQA, was his decision and he would be taking up a new position within the oil and gas sector.

"I had a discussion with my board at TAQA," he said. "We discussed the future direction of the firm, my future direction I'd like to take it and we decided that it would be best for me to step down at this time. It was my choice."

ACE is high as UAE gets back to business

It’s definitely picking up, you know. After all the prognoses of doom and gloom for this autumn, in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the pace of economic activity has noticeably quickened in the past couple of weeks.

The schools are back, as are the traffic jams, and my most reliable indicator of commercial life – the length of time I have to wait in the excellent Lebanese barber’s shop in Dubai’s Crowne Plaza hotel – tells me that the UAE is starting to recover from the financial crisis.

Over the summer you could get a short back-and-sides on demand, with manicure thrown in; now you face a 20-minute queue before you sit to face the mirror.

Chief executive of TAQA decides to step down

The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, known as TAQA, yesterday said its chief executive had stepped down and it had appointed a general manager to head its executive team.

The change of management, announced late in the day, reflects the Government-controlled enterprise’s move into a new phase of corporate development, the company said.

Peter Barker-Homek, the chief executive of the company since 2006, is the American specialist in mergers and acquisitions who oversaw TAQA’s transformation from a domestic power and water utility into an international energy concern with about US$24 billion (Dh88.15bn) of assets on four continents. In addition to power generation assets in the MENA region, India and the Caribbean, TAQA has amassed extensive oil and gas exploration and production concerns in Canada, the US and the North Sea, as well as pipeline, gas processing and gas storage facilities in western Europe.

Halliburton profits slump; signs of activity

Halliburton Co. reported Friday that conditions improved in North America, the hardest hit region in the oil industry, though third-quarter profits fell well short of the same period last year.

Companies like Halliburton help oil and gas producers with drilling and other services. Those producers were hit hard this year by plunging oil prices, and they've squeezed the service companies to cut costs, which drained profits for Halliburton during the first half of the year.

Dave Lesar, Halliburton's chairman, president and CEO, said those conditions persist and that the entire sector is still under strain.