By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--Woodside Petroleum Ltd. said that its Chief Executive Peter Coleman will retire from the energy explorer and producer in 2021, likely leaving the final investment decision on a key gas field offshore Western Australia to his successor.

Australia's largest oil-and-gas producer by market capitalization said Tuesday that Mr. Coleman has told Chairman Richard Goyder he aimed to retire in the second half of 2021, by which time he will have been in the role for more than 10 years.

Mr. Goyder said Woodside expected to make a final investment decision on the Scarborough gas field in the second half of 2021. The firm deferred its decision in March when the coronavirus pandemic was roiling global markets and smashing commodity valuations.

"You'd expect, if we live within that time arrangement, it'll probably be a new CEO at the time of FID, but that's not certain," Mr. Goyder told an investor briefing.

Mr. Goyder said it could depend upon whether Woodside opted for an internal appointment or looked elsewhere. He wouldn't elaborate on whether Woodside would be looking for a CEO with experience offshore or in M&A, while Woodside said in a statement it had begun looking both internally and externally.

Mr. Coleman said Woodside had been a couple of months from a final investment decision on Scarborough when the pandemic intervened, prompting the firm to conserve cash until commodity prices recovered.

He said that if he had committed to staying until the decision, there would be an expectation from shareholders that he would stay for another 12-18 months, which would extend his tenure beyond what he saw as reasonable.

"It's not 'can I get through next year and get to FID?' It's 'can I then do another year and another year?' and so forth," Mr. Coleman said.

Mr. Coleman said he had no firm retirement plans, saying only there were opportunities in conventional oil and gas, as well as alternative energy.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-07-20 2113ET