OREANDA-NEWS. John Minge has been appointed Chairman and President of BP America, Inc. and will serve as BP’s chief representative in the United States. He will succeed Lamar McKay, who has been appointed to head BP’s Upstream business.

“John Minge has done a superb job in Alaska, where he has led the way in enhancing safety and making BP Alaska a stronger business,” Mr. McKay said. “His background prepares him well for the challenges of representing BP in the US, which is home to our largest and most diverse portfolio of businesses anywhere in the world.”

Mr. Minge has led BP Alaska since January 2009, where he is responsible for BP's oil and gas exploration, development and production activities in Alaska, as well as its interests in the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

Under his leadership, BP Alaska successfully tested innovative enhanced oil recovery technologies, such as Bright Water™ and LoSal®, which are now used by BP around the globe. In 2012, BP Alaska achieved the lowest recordable incident rate in its history, with a 50 percent reduction from 2009.

During his nearly 30 year career with BP, Mr. Minge has held a variety of executive and engineering posts around the globe. These include assignments as president of BP Indonesia, head of BP’s Asia Pacific Unit, and president of exploration and production for Vietnam and China.

He started his BP career in the Gulf of Mexico as a drilling engineer and he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Washington State University.

Mr. Minge will take on his new role on February 15, 2013 and will be based in Houston, where BP business units are involved in oil and gas exploration and production, refining, chemicals, supply and trading, pipeline operations, shipping, and alternative energy.

The US is home to the largest concentration of BP employees in the world, more than 23,000, and its business activities support an estimated 210,000 more American jobs. BP’s capital investments in the U.S. over the past five years exceed USD 52 billion, more than any other company and more than BP invests in any other country.