TIDMAAOG
RNS Number : 5926C
Anglo African Oil & Gas PLC
23 January 2018
Anglo African Oil & Gas PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: AAOG /
Sector: Oil & Gas
ANGLO AFRICAN OIL & GAS PLC ('AAOG' or the 'Company')
Appointment of Chief Executive Officer and three non-executive
directors
Anglo African Oil & Gas plc, an independent oil and gas
developer, is pleased to announce the following changes to the
Board of Directors:
-- Mr James Berwick is appointed as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.
o Mr Berwick has held several senior executive positions within
leading independent oil and gas operators, including privately
owned and Africa-focused Impact Oil & Gas ('Impact') and Ophir
Energy plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange ('Ophir',
OPHR.L).
-- In addition, three Non-Executive Directors, whose biographies
are outlined below, have been appointed to the Board of the
Company:
o Mr Phil Beck, a geologist and petroleum engineer
o Mr Nick Butler, the published economist and Senior Policy
Adviser to Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown; and
o Ms Sarah Cope, a highly experienced investment banker.
-- PJ Davies, Non-Executive Director, has had to step down from
the Board at the request of his primary employer. Shortly after the
Company's admission to trading on AIM, PJ moved to a new role which
is subject to ethics and conflict of interest rules prohibiting
employees from acting as directors of public companies. His
employer helpfully allowed PJ to continue for a period of time, but
now that the new directors are in place he is able to resign.
-- Alex MacDonald, Country Manager, Congo, has resigned from the
Board with immediate effect and has submitted his resignation as an
employee, which will take effect at the end of the month.
The above appointments represent a strengthening of the
Company's management team ahead of the TLP-103 drilling campaign at
its 56% owned Tilapia oil field ('Tilapia') in the prolific Lower
Congo Basin. This includes the establishment of the new operational
team that will enable it to implement its strategy to develop the
Tilapia asset.
James Berwick (Chief Executive Officer)
Between 2013 and 2018, James held the board-level position of
Commercial Director of Impact, during which he oversaw a
significant expansion of the company's activities, including the
acquisition of six assets. Mr Berwick was also instrumental in
securing farm-out agreements with operators including Exxon,
Statoil, Woodside, CNOOC and Total.
At Ophir, James was Director of New Business (2006 - 2013) with
responsibility for scaling up and managing the company's portfolio
ahead of its successful IPO in 2011. As well as overseeing every
commercial transaction completed during this period, he was also
responsible for successfully de-risking Ophir's asset base within
the constraints of available capex. James previously held the role
of General Manager for Gabon where Ophir drilled several wells
under his supervision and he managed the company's operated assets
throughout Africa, including Marine IX in the Republic of the
Congo. Over the course of his career, during which he was also Head
of Global Security and Risk at Woodside Energy, James has built up
an extensive network of contacts within Africa and the oil and gas
sector, including with super-majors, governments and leading
industry advisers.
Before his career in the oil and gas industry, James served for
12 years in the British Army and the French Foreign Legion.
In line with the Company's policy of aligning management's
remuneration with significant production growth, it is intended
that James will participate in the Management Incentive Scheme
under which options will generally not vest until daily total oil
production at Tilapia reaches certain production milestones
measured over a consecutive 30-day period: one-third at 1,000 bopd;
one-third at 2,500 bopd; one-third at 5,000 bopd.
Phil Beck (Non-Executive Director)
Phil is a senior energy industry business consultant with over
forty years' commercial, engineering and project management
experience in the upstream oil and gas industry. Trained as a
geologist and petroleum engineer, he spent his early career with
British Gas and Unocal Corporation. For the last 24 years, he has
worked as a consultant during which he assisted Saudi development
company, Delta International, on several M&A transactions in
the upstream oil and gas sector as well as in other industry
sectors. Phil was formerly engaged as an adviser to Lazard for
energy-related transactions and has been a director of a number of
energy companies, including Centurion Energy (operating in Egypt
and Tunisia), formerly a Canadian listed oil and gas company, and
Island Oil and Gas plc (operating in Ireland and the Netherlands),
formerly quoted on the LSE AIM market. He was also a director of a
Middle East service company operating in Saudi Arabia and
neighbouring countries.
Nick Butler (Non-Executive Director)
Nick is the founding Chairman of the Policy Institute at King's
College London, which links academic work to policy-makers in the
UK and across Europe. Since May 2010, he has held the post of
Visiting Professor at King's College London and is currently the
external adviser and reviewer of the World Energy Outlook - the
flagship publication of the International Energy Agency. In
addition, Nick is a member of the Strategic Advisory Council of
Statoil, the Norwegian state controlled energy company and serves
on the Advisory Council Centre for Ecology and Hydrology - an
independent agency wholly owned by the UK Government. Between 2009
and 2010, Nick was Senior Policy Adviser to Gordon Brown, then UK
Prime Minister, specialising in business policy and the
stabilisation of the UK economy after the 2008 financial crash.
Between 2007 and 2009, Nick served as Chairman of the Cambridge
Centre for Energy Studies based at the Judge Business School,
University of Cambridge.
Prior to his economic consultancy work, Nick held several senior
positions at BP plc (BP.L) including Group Vice-President for
Strategy and Policy Development, advising the Chief Executive and
the Executive Committee on climate change, mergers and
acquisitions, organisational change and major new ventures; Group
Policy Adviser to the Chief Executive on all aspects of policy;
Head of External Affairs, responsible for the company's links with
stakeholders, including NGOs, the financial community, investors,
the media and Government; and Head of Investor Relations for
upstream exploration and production.
Sarah Cope (Non-Executive Director)
Sarah has over 20 years' experience as an investment banker in
London, advising small and mid-sized companies at Board level on
corporate governance, growth strategy, acquisitions and disposals,
capital markets and regulatory compliance. Over the last ten years,
she has specialised in the oil and gas sector, assisting listed oil
and gas companies to raise finance for their exploration,
development and production projects around the world. Her most
recent role was with Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, the global
investment bank and brokerage business, where she was until very
recently Managing Director and Co-Head of Energy. Prior to this,
Sarah was Head of Oil & Gas at RFC Ambrian and at finnCap. She
has also been Director of Equity Capital Markets at RBC Capital
Markets and Director of Corporate Finance at Seymour Pierce.
David Sefton, Executive Chairman of AAOG, commented:
"Tilapia represents a very special opportunity and the business
case of the Company is as compelling as ever. For this reason, we
took the view that we needed to enhance the capacity of the Company
to avoid the previous delays that have hampered our progress over
the last year and follow through on the proposition and work
programme outlined to our investors. The appointment of James
Berwick, whose experience and track record in the African oil and
gas sector is outstanding, represents a step change in the
executive capacity of the Company to deliver on its strategy.
Combined with the previously announced appointment of Alain Guiraud
as Drilling Manager to lead the drilling of TLP-103, we now have an
excellent operational team in place ahead of the Tilapia work
programme.
"In parallel, to have secured the services of individuals of the
calibre and experience of Nick Butler, Sarah Cope and Phil Beck as
Non-Executive Directors is, in my view, a clear vote of confidence
in the Company's strategy and Tilapia. They each have much to
contribute and we all look forward to working with them.
"I also want to take the opportunity to thank PJ Davies for his
very substantial contribution to the Company, and his resignation
is a matter of considerable regret.
"We remain focused on obtaining a new licence for the Tilapia
field and then moving to drill TLP-103. This is a multi-target
horizon well targeting the R1 and R2 and then Mengo sandstone
sequences within the Pointe Indienne formation, and finally the
deeper Djeno sandstone, which is known to be a prolific producer on
neighbouring fields. I look forward to providing updates on this
programme in due course."
The following information is disclosed under Schedule 2(g) of
the AIM Rules for Companies:
Mr Anthony James Berwick, aged 44, currently holds or has held
the following directorships and partnerships in the last five
years:
Current directorships/partnerships Past directorships/partnerships
None Elea Energy Limited
Impact Oil & Gas Limited
Mr Philip James Beck, aged 66, currently holds or has held the
following directorships and partnerships in the last five
years:
Current directorships/partnerships Past directorships/partnerships
Petrolynx Limited Hunter Petroleum Limited
The Petroleum and Renewable Delta Oil 2005 Number
Energy Company Limited Three Limited
Crest Energy Services Delta Oil (UK) Limited
Limited Delta Oil Services (UK)
Scion Films Sale and Limited
Leaseback Sixth LLP
Mr Nicholas Jones Butler, aged 63, currently holds or has held
the following directorships and partnerships in the last five
years:
Current directorships/partnerships Past directorships/partnerships
International Futures San Leon Energy Plc
Forum CEBR Energy Limited
Caerus European Associates Caerus LLP
Limited Jupiter Strategy Limited
Ridgeway Information CompactGTL Limited
Limited
Promus Associates Limited
Cambridge Econometrics
Limited
Asia House
Cambridge Centre for
Energy Studies Limited
Centre for European Reform
Ms Sarah Cope, aged 45, is currently a partner of Cantor
Fitzgerald LP but otherwise does not currently hold, nor has she
held, any directorships and partnerships in the last five
years.
As at the date of this announcement, none of the Directors above
has an interest in the ordinary shares of the Company.
There are no further disclosures required under Schedule 2(g) of
the AIM Rules for Companies.
The information communicated in this announcement is inside
information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation
596/2014.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.aaog.co or contact:
Anglo African Oil & Gas plc Tel: c/o St
David Sefton, Executive Chairman Brides Partners
+44 20 7236
1177
finnCap Ltd (Nominated Adviser Tel: +44 20
and Broker) 7220 0500
Christopher Raggett, Giles Rolls,
Anthony Adams (Corporate Finance)
Emily Morris (Corporate Broking)
St Brides Partners (Financial PR) Tel: +44 20
7236 1177
Frank Buhagiar, Olivia Vita
Notes to Editors
Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) is an AIM-listed independent
oil and gas company that owns a 56% stake in the producing Tilapia
oil field in the Republic of the Congo. The Company boasts a
low-cost production story in a prolific hydrocarbon region with
significant exploration upside, differentiating it substantially
from its E&P peers. Additionally, management's remuneration is
tied to hitting production milestones, reflecting their strong
focus on cost control.
Tilapia has an excellent address, being located close to
multi-billion-barrel fields that include the ENI-operated
Litchendjili field and the 5,000bopd Minsala Marine field. Tilapia
currently produces approximately 38 bopd from two near-surface
intervals. It has an undeveloped discovery in the lower Mengo sands
with gross contingent resources of 8.1m barrels and a deeper
exploration prospect, with gross prospective resources of 58.4m
barrels, in the productive Djeno interval from which the adjacent
Minsala field produces.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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