Penn West names David French CEO

David French (shown), former CEO of Bankers Petroleum Ltd., has been named as the new CEO of Penn West Petroleum Ltd, taking over for former CEO Dave Roberts. BNN photo.

Penn West replaces Dave Roberts

Oct 4 (Reuters) – Troubled Canadian energy producer Penn West Petroleum Ltd named David French as its chief executive, replacing Dave Roberts, who has been in the role since 2013.

French, most recently CEO of Bankers Petroleum Ltd, has also held several executive roles at Apache Corp.

Penn West said in May that it may default on its financial covenants at the end of the second quarter and raised doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern.

However, the company said in June it was in compliance with all of its financial covenants and removed the going-concern note included in the first-quarter financial statements.

The company reduced its long-term debt by 18.5 percent to C$1.54 billion at the end of June 30 from $1.89 billion at March 31.

Roberts will continue to lead Penn West until French takes charge on Oct. 24, the company said on Tuesday.

(Reporting by John Benny in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)