Diamond Offshore Names Halliburton Executive Next CEO

   By John Kell 
 

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) named a Halliburton Co. (HAL) executive to lead the contract driller as its next president and chief executive, effective early next month.

Marc Edwards will steer Diamond Offshore, which is majority-owned by Loews Corp. (L), and succeed Lawrence R. Dickerson, who last year signaled he would retire after more than 30 years at the company.

Before joining Diamond, Mr. Edwards had spent nearly his entire career at oil-field services company Halliburton. He started as a field engineer in Kuwait in 1984 and most recently served as an executive for Halliburton's completion and production division.

Diamond had struggled with lower revenue as the offshore-drilling sector struggles with a recovery from 2010's Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

But Diamond's fourth-quarter results exceeded expectations earlier this month, and the company says it is now planning a major bulk up as capital spending on new drilling rigs, upgrades and maintenance is set to double this year to $2.1 billion.

Shares were up 0.7% to $47.55 in after-hours trading.

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