He will be responsible for the following staff functions: corporate control, planning and accounting; group finance; investor relations; legal affairs; information management and technology; corporate services and corporate audit.
The human resources function will report to acting chief executive Inge K Hansen. This also applies to the health, safety and the environment function, and the Snøhvit project.
Mr Sætre (47) is a business economist. He joined Statoil in 1980 and has held a number of positions in the group. Mr Sætre became senior vice president for corporate control, planning and accounting in 1998.