SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) said Jan. 28 that oil and gas industry veteran Paul D. McKinney has been named as the Oklahoma City-based E&P’s next president and CEO.

Oil and gas industry veteran Paul D. McKinney, most recently COO and president of Yuma Energy, has been named as SandRidge Energy’s next CEO. (Source: Yuma Energy Inc.)

McKinney will join SandRidge, effective Jan. 29, from Yuma Energy Inc., where he served as the company’s president and COO. He succeeds William M. Griffin, who took over as SandRidge’s president and CEO last year after James Bennett was ousted in a victory for activist investor Carl Icahn.

SandRidge came under pressure from Icahn, who had objected to Bennett’s compensation and the company’s $746 million bid to buy rival Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. (NYSE: BCEI). Julian Bott, the company’s CFO, was also pressured to leave by Icahn in early 2018.

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McKinney has 35 years of oil and gas industry experience and, prior to Yuma, held a variety of senior roles at Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA). He began his career with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), where he spent 23 years in various positions.

“I am very excited to be joining SandRidge and honored to work with the SandRidge team as we develop our plans for the future,” McKinney said in a statement.

The majority of the SandRidge’s production is generated from the Mississippi Lime formation in Oklahoma and Kansas. Development activity is currently focused on the Meramec formation in the Northwest Stack Play in Oklahoma and multiple oil-rich Niobrara benches in Colorado’s North Park Basin.

“The company’s asset base and existing investment opportunities are impressive and have set SandRidge up for organic growth,” McKinney continued. “I look forward to developing these exciting assets as well as pursuing the many opportunities that exist in the market today.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

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