18th Apr 2005 07:00
Premier Oil PLC18 April 2005 PREMIER OIL PLC ("Premier") APPOINTMENT OF NEW FINANCE DIRECTOR AND GENERAL MANAGER OF OPERATIONS Premier is pleased to announce two senior appointments. Tony Durrant will become Premier's Finance Director with effect from 1st July2005. This follows the announcement last week of the decision by FinanceDirector John van der Welle to leave the Company on 30th June 2005 to pursueother challenges. Tony joins Premier from Lehman Brothers where he is a managing director and Headof the European Natural Resources Group. During the course of nineteen yearswith Lehman Brothers, he has advised numerous companies within the energysector, and managed a large number of financings and energy-relatedtransactions. Tony has a degree from Oxford University and is a CharteredAccountant. Tony will join the Board as Finance Director Designate and will work alongsideJohn up to 30th June 2005 to ensure an orderly handover. Sir David John, Chairman said: "We are very pleased to have secured Tony Durrant as the Company's FinanceDirector, joining Chief Executive Simon Lockett as part of the team now takingthe Company forward." Premier is also pleased to announce the appointment of Neil Hawkings as GeneralManager of Operations with effect from 16th May 2005. Neil's role is a key position in the Premier management team and covers many ofthe responsibilities previously managed by Simon Lockett, Premier's new ChiefExecutive Officer. Neil brings over twenty years international experience invarious operational and commercial roles with Conoco, including the West NatunaGas development where Premier also has an interest. More recently he has workedwith ConocoPhillips and Chevron Texaco, managing the Britannia field in theNorth Sea. He has a Chemical Engineering degree from Cambridge. Simon Lockett, Premier's Chief Executive, said: "Neil will be an excellent addition to Premier's new team and will beresponsible for the continued development of Premier's production base. I lookforward to working with him." 18th April 2005 Enquiries: Premier Oil plc 020 7730 1111Sir David John, ChairmanSimon Lockett, Chief Executive College Hill 020 7457 2020Jim JosephNick Elwes Notes to editors Tony Durrant (46) Tony qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen. He joined LehmanBrothers in London in 1986, initially as an oil sector analyst. He joined theinvestment banking division of Lehman in 1987 and since 1997 has been a managingdirector and Head of their European Natural Resources Group. In this role, Tonyhas managed both client relationships and numerous transactions for a variety ofEuropean and North American clients. Neil Hawkings (43) Having completed his Engineering degree at Cambridge, Neil joined Conoco in 1983and worked in a variety of engineering and management roles both in London andoverseas. Between 1997 and 2000, Neil held senior management roles for Conoco inJakarta in relation to the West Natuna Gas project. In 2000, Neil returned tothe UK as Managing Director of Britannia Operator Limited, a joint venture setup by Conoco and Chevron to run the Britannia gas condensate field. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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