Al Cook

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT AL COOK

Al Cook is Chief Executive Officer at De Beers Group, the world’s leading diamond company.Al joined De Beers from Equinor, where he was Executive Vice President for Exploration & Production International. As a member of the Corporate Executive Committee, he held responsibility for Equinor’s international operations.From 2018 to 2021, Al held the position of EVP, Global Strategy and Business Development.Prior to this, he held the role of Senior Vice President in Equinor’s international division, overseeing the company’s operations in Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Libya, Nigeria, Russia and Venezuela.Before joining Equinor, Al worked for 20 years at BP, where his final role was Chief of Staff to the CEO. This included working with the World Economic Forum to address the challenge of climate change, setting up the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative and supporting diversity programmes across the energy industry.From 2009 to 2014, Al led the development of the Southern Gas Corridor. This was one of the largest energy projects in history, spanning 7 countries and bringing natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe for the first time. The project started up, on time and below budget, in 2018. Al joined BP in 1996, working in a series of project development and commercial roles in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico. He worked in field operations in the North Sea from 2002 to 2005, becoming Offshore Installation Manager for the Cleeton Platform, a major natural gas hub. From 2005 to 2008, he led the IGB2 Project in Vietnam, incorporating the development of two offshore fields and onshore power generation. He subsequently acted as President for BP Vietnam.Al is a board member at Envusa Energy, a Fellow of the Energy Institute and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.Al holds an MA in Natural Sciences from St. John’s College, Cambridge University and in 2005 completed the International Executive Programme at INSEAD.