MR David Harding, a leading figure in the North Sea oil industry with

BP Exploration, has died aged 57.

He was appointed chief executive for the company in South America,

based in Bogota, Colombia, in February, 1992, and stopped working there

only a few weeks ago.

Before that Mr Harding was chief executive for Europe for three years

and worked from Glasgow.

An engineer by background, he held several posts in the Middle East

before joining BP Exploration in 1976 in London as manager of policy

planning on the Sullom Voe terminal project.

Mr Harding, who was single, also served with the company in Norway,

Aberdeen and China.

He was a founder member of the Oil Industry Exports Advisory Group.