March 18 (Reuters) - Tellurian said on Monday

it was looking at all options, including a potential sale, and

that CEO Octavio Simoes had stepped down from his role, amid the

liquefied natural gas developer's efforts to keep its Driftwood

export project alive.

The company earlier this year had hired Lazard ( LAZ ) to explore a

sale of its Haynesville upstream business in East Texas and

Louisiana as part of efforts to raise capital for the Driftwood

project.

Lazard ( LAZ ) will now also focus on alternative debt and equity

financing, the sale of equity interests in Driftwood or

Tellurian, a potential sale of the company, and assisting in

securing commercial partners, Tellurian said on Monday.

Simoes, who resigned on March 15, has transitioned to an

advisory role and will report to the company's president. He

will retire in June. The company had previously said it would

not renew or extend his employment term beyond June 5.

Samik Mukherjee, executive vice president of Driftwood

Assets, has been appointed as president of Tellurian

Investments.

He will be in charge of development of all Tellurian's

assets, including upstream, Driftwood LNG and pipeline.

The change is the latest top level reshuffle at Tellurian

after it ousted chairman and co-founder Charif Souki late last

year.

The company said it could sell up to $366.1 million shares

from time to time through distribution agency Virtu Americas.

(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru;

Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Sriraj Kalluvila)