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Directors and Management
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Sir Graham Hearne - Non-Executive Director & Chairman
Sir Graham Hearne became a Director in March 2005 and resides in the UK. Graham has extensive experience in the oil industry and has been an active member of the business community in the UK for a number of years. He is currently Chairman of Catlin Group Limited and Braemar Shipping Services Group plc, and a non-executive director of
N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited, Rowan Companies, Inc. and Wellstream Holdings plc. Graham’s experience includes serving as Chief Executive of Enterprise Oil plc from its creation in 1984 to 1991, and was Chairman from 1991 until Enterprise's acquisition by Shell in 2002. In recognition of his services to the oil industry, Graham was knighted in 1998. |
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Kevin Watts - Executive Director, President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Watts became President, Chief Executive and Executive Director in August 2005 and resides in the UK. Kevin has over 20 years’ experience
working in the oil industry. He trained as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co. and advised
numerous oil industry clients before joining Enterprise Oil plc in 1984. He was actively involved in Enterprise
Oil plc’s commercial and business development activites and served on the company’s executive committee
from 1995 and joined its main board as Corporate Development Director at the beginning of 1998. He has
extensive international experience, leading Enterprise Oil plc’s worldwide business development
planning activities and his team was responsible for a significant part of the company’s growth from the mid nineties. |
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John van der Welle - Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. van der Welle became a Director and Chief Financial Officer in July 2008. He has extensive international experience in the oil industry gained over the last 25 years and has served as a main board executive director of three listed oil companies. He had senior management roles in business development and finance at Enterprise Oil plc and was Group Treasurer when he left in 1995. He served subsequently as the Finance Director of Hardy Oil & Gas plc, Premier Oil plc and First Calgary Petroleums Ltd until August 2007, followed by a period as Managing Director, Head of Oil and Gas, in the Sector Corporate Finance group of the Royal Bank of Scotland. John qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co in London in 1981 and is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and the Association of Corporate Treasurers. John holds a BSc. degree in Electronic Engineering from Southampton University. |
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Mark Bilsland - Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Bilsland became Chief Operating Office and Executive Director in May 2007, prior to which he was Chief Financial Officer from October 2005, and resides in the UK. Mark has had an extensive career in the oil
industry with the British National Oil Corporation, Enterprise Oil plc and Khanty Mansiysk Oil Corporation
(“KMOC”). While at Enterprise Oil plc from 1985 to 2000 he held senior positions as Project Evaluation
Manager, General Manager, Australia and in the company's most significant business unit in the UK North Sea. On leaving the company
in 2000, Mark became Chief Operating Officer of KMOC, a US corporation with oil and gas production in West
Siberia, Russia, where he was responsible for operational and financial management. Mark holds a BSc
degree in Geology and PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College, London. |
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Andrew Childs - Non-Executive Director
Andrew graduated in 1980 from the University of Otago, New Zealand with a Bachelor of Science degree
majoring in Geology and Zoology. Mr. Childs started his career as an exploration field geologist in the Eastern
Goldfields of Western Australia, after which he moved to petroleum geology and geophysics with Perth based
Ranger Oil Australia (subsequently named Petroz NL). Andrew subsequently worked with one of Perth’s leading human resource consultancies before founding
Resource Recruitment Pty Limited in 1995, one of Australia’s leading oil and gas resource recruitment companies. He is a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia and the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists. He was a non-executive director of Grove from May 2005. Mr. Childs became a Director in May 2007 and
resides in Perth, Australia. |
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David Curry - Non-Executive Director
Mr. Curry, a petroleum engineer, became a director in January 2008 and resides in France. He brings a wealth of upstream oil and gas experience to the Company after a career of more than 30 years in the industry. He trained initially with Schlumberger before spells with Amoco and Britoil plc, and became of one of the founding directors of Cairn Energy PLC in 1988. In 1998 he became a director and Chief Executive of Melrose Resources plc, a position he held until his retirement in 2006. David is a Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. |
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Colin Orr-Ewing -Non-Executive Director
Mr. Orr-Ewing became a Director in March 2005 and resides in the UK. Colin has been at Blakeney Capital
Management, a London-based emerging markets specialist, since 1994. He began his career as an investment
manager for the Shell Pension Fund in London after completing his education as a chartered accountant. Colin
also has extensive experience in international financial affairs. He was involved in the oil industry from 1971
through to 1987 with numerous companies in the North Sea, Libya, Nigeria and Algeria. Colin has also served
as a director for a number of oil and gas exploration and development companies. He is a graduate of Oxford
University in geography and geology. |
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Ennio Sganzerla - Non-Executive Director
Mr. Sganzerla became a Director in May 2007 and resides in Milan, Italy. Mr. Sganzerla has recently retired from ENI
after a distinguished career with the company spanning 35 years. He has extensive international experience,
working in senior operating management positions in the UK, Nigeria, Norway, Vietnam, Congo, Gabon, Egypt
and Kazakhstan. From 1997 until his retirement he headed ENI’s largest business unit covering the UK, the
Americas, Australasia and Russia, producing more than 500,000 boepd. Mr. Sganzerla has a first degree in
Mechanical Engineering and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering. |
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John Weatherall - Non-Executive Director
Mr. Weatherall became a Director in February 2003 and resides in Ontario, Canada. John is currently Chairman
of Scarthingmoor Asset Management Inc., an investment counselling firm in Toronto, Canada. His previous
experience includes serving as Chairman of Toronto Dominion Asset Management and a consultant to the
Toronto Dominion Bank. Earlier in his career, he was a director and member of the executive committee of
Wood Gundy Inc. |
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