Orpic appoints chief operating officer

Muscat: State-owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) on Sunday officially announced the appointment of Christiaan van der Wouden as its chief operating officer (COO) with immediate effect.
With a Master’s degree in Applied Physics of Delft University in The Netherlands - complemented later with an MBA degree - Christiaan, who is a Dutch citizen, set out to build a career in Shell centred around refining and process engineer in The Netherlands, advanced process control and optimisation engineer in Stanlow Refinery in the UK and assistant production unit manager in Shell Pernis Rotterdam Refinery, said a company release.
After having performed as supply and operations manager in Shell’s Dominican Republic Refinery (a joint venture with the government) since 1995, Christiaan was appointed its general manager in 1998, until 2000. He then became general manager of Shell’s Petit Couronne Refinery in France until mid-2004, which achieved first quartile performances in operational availability, non-energy costs, routine and turnaround Solomon indexes.
Christiaan came to Qatar in 2010 as contract and procurement manager for Shell Qatar. In 2013, he was appointed chief operating officer (COO) for Shell-QP’s Al Kaarana petrochemicals, before transferring fully into QP in 2015.
Speaking on his appointment, Christiaan said, “Orpic is one of Oman’s largest companies and is one of the most rapidly growing businesses in the Middle East oil industry. It is an ambitious company that aims for excellence in all aspects of its operations and wants to expand its business into the future. I am excited to join such a progressive and forward thinking organization and I am confident together we can work towards making Orpic a leading performer.”