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Seven appoints oil and gas veteran

David McEvoy.

UPDATE 2.35pm: The push by Kerry Stokes’ Seven Group Holdings into oil and gas has taken another step forward with the appointment to its board today of Woodside Petroleum non-executive director David McEvoy.

Mr McEvoy, an oil and gas industry veteran who spent 34 years with ExxonMobil, is due to complete his stint on the Woodside board in 2017.

He began his career with Esso in Australia, just like Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman.

Mr McEvoy also sits on the board of AWE, one of the biggest Australian mid-cap oil and gas players.

Mr Stokes said Mr McEvoy was one of Australia’s most highly-credentialed and experienced executives in petroleum exploration and development.

“He has a strong track record as a director of companies and he brings great experience and knowledge to our businesses as it develops a significant presence in oil and gas developments both here in Australia and North America,” he said.

Mr McEvoy said he was delighted to be joining the Seven Group board.

“I am particularly pleased to be joining at a time when Seven Group Holdings has assembled an impressive portfolio of high quality oil and gas assets and is seeking to further strengthen this position,” he said.

Mr McEvoy's appointment to the Seven Group board as a non-executive director comes as the company increases its investment in the oil and gas space, notably through 19.9 per cent shareholdings each in Cooper Basin-focused Beach Energy and Drillsearch Energy and direct ownership of upstream assets in Australia and the US.

The Beach and Drillsearch stakes are worth $294 million and $107 million, respectively.

Seven Group has also invested in Woodside and, based on the Perth oil and gas giant’s annual report published in February, held three million shares worth $111 million.

The architect of Seven Group’s oil and gas strategy is retiring chief executive Don Voelte, the former Woodside managing director.

Mr Voelte joined Woodside in 2004, a year before Mr McEvoy was appointed a non-executive director.

Seven shares were up six cents to $7.54 at the ckise.