Cairn chairman Norman Murray lands top role at Petrofac

CAIRN Energy chairman Norman Murray is also to take the chair of oil and gas services firm Petrofac.

The venture capital veteran, who holds further non-executive roles at Robert Wiseman Dairies and Greene King, will replace Rodney Chase at the helm of Petrofac in May, subject to shareholders' approval.

Petrofac would not release details of 62-year-old Murray's remuneration package but Chase, who steps down as chairman after six years, received $158,000 (99,200) in 2009 - the latest figure available.

At Edinburgh-based Cairn, Murray last year commanded a salary of 205,000.

Although both FTSE 100 firms operate in the same field, City sources yesterday downplayed the potential for conflicts of interest.

"The companies are very confident they operate in very different areas," one source said.

Petrofac shareholders reacted positively to the news, with shares closing up 15p at 1,566p.

Murray, a co-founder of private equity group Morgan Grenfell and a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, will be joined on the Petrofac board by Roxanne Decyk, who will become a non-executive director. Decyk spent 11 years in various positions at Royal Dutch Shell, most recently as head of the government affairs department, serving on the Shell executive committee between 2005 and 2009.