Tellurian names Daniel Belhumeur president as new chair takes charge

(Reuters) – Tellurian (NYSE:) said on Monday it had appointed insider Daniel Belhumeur as president, days after the U.S. liquefied (LNG) developer ousted co-founder Charif Souki as chairman.

The company’s shares were last down about 6% in choppy trading as investors digested the surprise shake-up announced on Friday that will see co-founder Martin Houston taking over as chairman and Souki staying on as a member of the board.

The stock has more than halved in value this year as Tellurian struggled to recruit customers and investors for the first phase of the Driftwood LNG project. The company at a recent investor presentation said it might sell the first six months’ worth of its LNG output to help finance the project.

“Mr. Souki implemented numerous strategy permutations which while innovative, did not translate into shareholder value,” said Stifel analyst Benjamin Nolan.

“In our view, given the tenuous financial position as well as Tellurian being competitively behind many of their LNG peers, the path forward is very challenging irrespective of who is in charge.”

Belhumer has served as the company’s general counsel and chief compliance officer since 2017 and Meredith (NYSE:) Mouer, deputy general counsel, will succeed him, the company said.