Board Changes

RNS Number : 9567T

Petro Matad Limited

20 December 2012

 



Petro Matad Limited

("Petro Matad" or the "Company")

Board Changes

Petro Matad is pleased to announce that Mr Ridvan Karpuz and Mr John Henriksen have been appointed to the Company's board.  Mr Karpuz will assume the role of Exploration Director whilst Mr Henriksen will serve as the Company's Finance Director.  Mr Clyde Evans, who has been a Non-Executive director of the Company since retiring from the role of Chief Financial Officer in April 2012 has, following a successful handover period, now retired from the board.

Mr Karpuz joined Petro Matad in August 2012 as exploration manager and took over management responsibility for all matters pertaining to the Exploration Division, including operations, in Mongolia following the retirement of Douglas McGay in November this year. Prior to joining Petro Matad, Mr Karpuz spent five years at Austrian listed integrated oil and gas company OMV where he was Exploration and Reservoir Manager working in Iran, Yemen and more recently Tunisia.  He has 23 years' work experience in oil and gas exploration and production and a proven track record of significant oil discoveries.  Importantly Mr Karpuz has substantial experience establishing and operating subsurface exploration teams and of delivering fast-track exploration to production programmes.  His experience has been obtained in remote and logistically demanding locations and in globally significant hydrocarbon provinces such as the Middle East, North Sea, Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, North Atlantic, and North Africa. Prior to his role with OMV, Mr Karpuz worked with Endeavour Energy and Norsk Hydro in senior exploration roles.

Mr Henriksen assumed the role as Chief Financial Officer for the Company on 17 April 2012.  He is a Qualified Accountant (Canada) with 36 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.  Prior to joining the Company he spent 5 years with Salamander Energy plc, where he was Country Manager for Indonesia.  He has also held managerial positions in the finance departments of Vico, ENI and Lasmo plc.

Commenting on these board changes Dr George Watkins, the Company's Chairman, said: "I am delighted that Ridvan and John have agreed to join the board. Since joining Petro Matad earlier in the year they have both made a significant contribution to the Company, they are both based in Mongolia and I believe that their skill and industry experience will be of great value to the Company as its progresses with its exploration activities.

"The board of Petro Matad would like to extend its gratitude to Clyde Evans for his contribution to the Company both as Finance Director and more recently as a Non-Executive Director.  Since passing over day to day responsibility for the Company's finance function in April, Clyde has worked alongside John to ensure a successful transition and migration of the Company's accounting department from Australia to our operational office in Ulaanbaatar."  

Mehmed Ridvan Karpuz (aged 50) has not held any directorships within the past 5 years.

Mr Karpuz's interest in the Company's securities can be summarised as follows: 75,000 conditional options at an exercise price of 7.86 pence of which 33% vesting on the first anniversary of date of grant being 5 October 2012, 33% vesting on the second anniversary of date of grant and 34% vesting on the third anniversary of date of grant. 150,000 Conditional Share Awards with an acquisition price of USD0.01; the performance conditions of these awards being 25% of the shares under the Award shall vest on the first discovery of oil on a commercial scale; 25% of the shares under the Award shall vest on the first production of oil on a commercial scale; and 50% of the shares under the Award shall vest on the Company selling 1 million barrels of oil. 1,862,364 Conditional Share Awards with acquisition price of USD0.01; the service conditions of these awards are tied to employment continuity and are available for vesting in three equal annual instalments from date of his commencement of employment in August 2012.

John Rene Henriksen (aged 60) has held the following directorships within the past 5 years:

Current	Previous
None	Salamander Energy (Indonesia) Limited
	Salamander Energy (Java & Sumatra) B.V.
	Salamander Energy (Java) B.V.
	Salamander Energy (Sumatra) B.V.

Mr Henriksen's interest in the Company's securities can be summarised as follows: 100,000 conditional options at an exercise price of 22.5 pence of which 33% vesting on the first anniversary of date of grant being25 April 2012, 33% vesting on the second anniversary of date of grant and 34% vesting on the third anniversary of date of grant.  100,000 Conditional Share Awards with an acquisition price of USD0.01, the performance conditions of these awards are 25% of the shares under the Award shall vest on the first discovery of oil on a commercial scale; 25% of the shares under the Award shall vest on the first production of oil on a commercial scale and 50% of the shares under the Award shall vest on the Company selling 1 million barrels of oil. 789,090 Conditional Share Awards with acquisition price of USD0.01; the service conditions of these awards are tied to employment continuity and are available for vesting in three equal annual instalments from date of commencement of employment in April 2012

Save for the information disclosed above there is no further information required to be disclosed in connection with the appointments of Messrs Henriksen and Karpuz under Rule 17 and Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

About Petro Matad Limited

Petro Matad is the parent company of a group focussed on oil exploration, as well as future development and production in Mongolia.  The Group holds the sole operatorship of three Production Sharing Contracts with the Government of Mongolia.  Block XX has an area of 10,340km² in the far eastern part of the country.  Blocks, IV and V are located in central Mongolia.  Block IV covers approximately 29,000km² and Block V approximately 21,150km².

Petro Matad Limited is incorporated in the Isle of Man under company number 1483V.  Its registered office is at Victory House, Prospect Hill, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1EQ.

Further information:

Petro Matad Limited

George Watkins, Chairman

[phone]

NOMAD and Joint Broker

Westhouse Securities Limited

Richard Baty / Petre Norton

[phone]

Joint Broker

Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited

Jeffrey Auld / Steve Baldwin / Nicholas Harland

[phone]

 

END

 

 

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