KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Icon Offshore Bhd, whose single largest shareholder is Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas), has appointed Amir Hamzah Azizan as its new managing director effective March 1, 2016, 

He will also be appointed to the board of the oil and gas service provider.

Amir will replace Dr Jamal Yusof, whose appointment as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Icon Offshore will expire on Nov 15. Jamal will not be extending his contract, citing "to pursue his business" as the reason.

In May this year, Jamal had declined the offer to be re-elected as a director of the company, after he and its chief operating officer Rahman Yusof were remanded to facilitate and assist in investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. It remained unknown what the subject matter of the investigations was.

In a statement today, Icon Offshore said Amir is currently the CEO of Petronas Lubricants International and vice president of lubricants business at Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas). He also sits on the board of South Africa’s Engen Petroleum.

Amir has 26 years of proven industry and international experience and extensive knowledge of the oil and gas industry, and the marine logistics sector. From 2011 to 2013, Amir served as the CEO of Petronas Dagangan Bhd.

Amir also played an instrumental role in the acquisition of American Eagle Tanker Ltd, rebranded as AET Tanker Holdings Sdn Bhd and integrated it into MISC Bhd to exponentially grow the company. He later went on to become the CEO of MISC, during which time he led the strategic review and turnaround of its container business.

Meanwhile, Icon Offshore’s non-executive director Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad has been given an executive role. He is the currently the executive director and CEO of Ekuinas.

Icon Offshore, which was up half a sen to close at 35.5 sen today, recently announced it had been given a six-plus-one-month contract worth RM7.7 million to provide two anchor handling tug and supply vessels to ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Malaysia Inc.

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