The Royal Dutch Shell executive who oversaw the company's now-suspended Arctic exploration program will retire from the oil company in February and join the board of KBR Inc., the Houston-based engineering and construction firm said Tuesday.
Ann Pickard, who became Shell's executive vice president for the Arctic after the company's trouble-plagued 2012 season, will start her new position as a board member on Dec. 1, KBR said in a statement.
Pickard announced her plans to retire from Shell on Friday, the KBR statement said.
Before heading the company's Arctic program, Pickard oversaw Shell operations in Australia and sub-Saharan Africa.
On Sept. 28, Shell said an exploration well at the Burger prospect, the sixth ever drilled to completion in the Chukchi Sea, failed to turn up enough oil to justify further development.
Shell announced plans to plug the well and said it will cease its Alaska offshore exploration program "for the foreseeable future." The company spent more than $7 billion on the program.