30th Jan 2007 07:02
Victoria Oil & Gas PLC30 January 2007 Victoria Oil & Gas Plc 30 January 2007 Appointment of CEO and Board Changes • Tony Porter appointed Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") • William Kelleher resigns from board • Gerd Fabel from Victoria's technical team appointed as Head of Exploration The Board of Directors of Victoria Oil & Gas Plc ("Victoria" or the "Company"),the AIM-quoted oil and gas company, today announces key management changes. William Kelleher has today resigned from his position as Managing Director forfamily reasons after almost ten years in the FSU. He has agreed to remain as anadvisor to the Company until 1 April, 2007. CEO Appointment Tony Porter (60) has been appointed as CEO and will join the Board as anexecutive director. His career spans more than 40 years in the energy and powergeneration sectors. With regional experience gained in the FSU since 1992, hehas been intimately involved such major projects as Tengiz and Kashagan and wasretained to develop and advise on an indigenous national development programmethrough the expansion of the oil and gas market for the Government ofKazakhstan. Specialising in engineering and project management his notable achievementsinclude: the reinstatement of the Kuwait oil-producing facilities after thefirst Gulf War; the creation of a successful strategic business venture inKazakhstan for a major international engineering and construction firm, thesuccessful tender and implementation of the international programme Restore IraqOil (RIO) in Kirkuk in northern Iraq. More recently he has advised a largeprivate Saudi Arabian industrial enterprise. Head of Exploration Gerd Fabel today becomes Head of Exploration and will work directly with TonyPorter on continuing to develop Victoria's prospective upstream projects. Gerdhas been the Company's senior technical manager and has established a permanentFSU base in Almaty, Kazakhstan from which he overseas all activity of Victoria'sexploration team. Gerd is a senior petroleum engineer with broad expertise in oil and gasdevelopment, including drilling, workover operations and reservoir stimulation.He has worked for some of the world's largest oil and gas companies in bothEurope and the FSU. Commenting today Tony Porter, CEO said "Victoria is a highly attractive companyto join for somebody experienced in the region and focused towards theestablishment of revenue-producing assets. The Company's asset portfolioencompasses the full spectrum of opportunity from the highly prospective WestMedvezhye gas project in Russia to the proven and producing Kemerkol field inKazakhstan. My aim is to utilise my operational experience and together withGerd to ensure a balance between exploration spending and production in order tooptimise our use of funds. I look forward to examining a range of newopportunities for value both within the existing portfolio and across the FSUoil and gas industry." Chairman Kevin Foo said today, "On behalf of the Board of Directors I would liketo thank Bill for his total dedication to the development of Victoria. Werespect his decision to return back home after so long in the FSU and wish himwell. "We would like to welcome Tony on to the Board and look forward to working withhim to maximise value from our existing assets and pursue additional downstreamopportunities for Victoria. He brings with him not only the proven experience ofconverting exploration potential into actual revenue, but he also has a trackrecord of creating value further down the energy production chain." Kevin Foo / George Donne Leesa Peters/ Laurence ReadVictoria Oil & Gas Plc Conduit PR+44 (0)207 921 8820 +44 (0)207 429 6605 +44 (0)7979 955 923 There are no further disclosures required under the AIM Rules. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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