VANCOUVER, BC, June 26,
2023 /CNW/ - (TSX: AOI) (Nasdaq-Stockholm: AOI)
- Africa Oil Corp. ("Africa Oil", "AOC" or the
"Company") announces that Keith
Hill, President and CEO, has informed the Board of his
intention to step down from his executive role at Africa Oil. Mr.
Hill has led the Company for more than fourteen years and has
presided over major milestones, including the Prime Oil & Gas
acquisition and the Venus oil discovery offshore Namibia. Under Mr. Hill's leadership, Africa
Oil has grown from a junior explorer to a full-cycle upstream
company, and he leaves it in a very strong position, poised for
continued future growth. View PDF version
The Company is pleased to announce that Roger Tucker will join Africa Oil to succeed Mr.
Hill as the new President and CEO. Dr. Tucker has a distinguished
international oil and gas career with extensive experience of
running and developing businesses in multiple and varied
international environments. His career is characterized by
significant value-creation in businesses ranging from independents,
multi-nationals and state-owned companies. He was Senior Vice
President Europe, for BG Group; CEO of African Arabian Petroleum
Ltd., and Latitude Energy; Managing Director of Yukos Oil; and
President LASMO Venezuela and a member of LASMO's Group Executive
Committee. More recently he was Chairman of Viaro Energy and has
experience in private equity through Senior Partner-level positions
at Prostar Capital and Vanwall Capital. He is currently a
Non-Executive Director of PetroTal Corporation.
Mr. Hill has agreed to remain on the Board as a Director of the
Company with Dr. Tucker also joining the Board as a Director. The
handover will take place on September 5,
2023, and Mr. Hill will continue to lead the Company until
that date.
Mr. Craig, Chairman of the Board commented: "Keith's
vision, industry expertise and astute deal making has created a
leading Africa-focused E&P
company. On behalf of the Board, I thank him for his years of hard
work and his unwavering commitment to the Company. We are delighted
to welcome Roger to Africa Oil and, we are confident that he is the
right candidate to succeed Keith and to lead the Company on its
next phase of development."
Mr. Hill, Outgoing President and CEO commented: "It
has been a privilege to lead Africa Oil on its journey from a
microcap junior explorer to a significant Independent E&P
company, but now, with our increasing focus on production and
developments, it is the right time to hand over the reins to Roger.
I thank our Board and the Africa Oil team for their professionalism
and support over the past fourteen years. I am very pleased that we
have attracted Roger, a high caliber executive with his extensive
experience in the international energy sector. I wish him the very
best for his new role."
Dr. Tucker, Designate President and CEO commented: "I am
very happy to be joining Africa Oil, a company that has grown
significantly in the last few years with an excellent opportunity
set and material catalysts for shareholder value creation. I am
grateful for the vote of confidence from the Africa Oil Board and
this opportunity to lead the Company on its next phase of
sustainable growth, with a firm focus on shareholder value and
returns."
About Roger Tucker
Dr. Tucker holds a Ph.D. Doctorate in Sedimentology and
Geochemistry from University of Newcastle
Upon Tyne in the United
Kingdom. He started his career with Exxon and managed a wide
range of exploration and research projects globally. He then joined
LASMO, a UK independent E&P company as Exploration Management
Executive with a focus on building LASMO's exploration interests
with particular emphasis on North Sea, the Middle East and North Africa. He subsequently took the role of
Director of Global Business Development at LASMO to develop and
execute a strategy for driving new global business opportunities.
He advanced to become a member of LASMO's Group Executive Committee
with leadership responsibility for LASMO Venezuela and all business
activities in the Latin American Region.
Latterly, he held senior leadership roles as Managing Director
of Yukos Oil and CEO of African Arabian Petroleum and Latitude
Energy, before joining BG Group as Senior Vice President Europe,
where he was directly responsible for budget, operational and
financial performance of BG's European business that accounted for
150,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day production and a
significant portion of the group's revenues and had an annual
budget of USD 2 billion. This
business employed 700 staff in four countries. During his time at
BG, Dr. Tucker also sat on the Regional Executive and Regional
Investment Committee for Americas and Europe and Central
Asia covering Brazilian, Americas and Kazakhstan operations.
About Africa Oil
Africa Oil Corp. is a Canadian oil and gas company with
producing and development assets in deepwater Nigeria and an exploration/appraisal portfolio
in west and south of Africa, as
well as Guyana. The Company is
listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq Stockholm under
the symbol "AOI".
Additional Information
This information is information that Africa Oil is obliged to
make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the
Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information
was submitted for publication, through the agency of the
contact person set out above, at 2:00 a.m.
ET on June 26, 2023.
Forward-Looking
Information
Certain statements and information contained herein constitute
"forward-looking information" (within the meaning of applicable
Canadian securities legislation). Such statements and information
(together, "forward-looking statements") relate to future events or
the Company's future performance, business prospects or
opportunities.
All statements other than statements of historical fact may be
forward-looking statements. Statements concerning proven and
probable reserves and resource estimates may also be deemed to
constitute forward-looking statements and reflect conclusions that
are based on certain assumptions that the reserves and resources
can be economically exploited. Any statements that express or
involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations,
beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future
events or performance (often, but not always, using words or
phrases such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue",
"estimate", "expect, "may", "will", "project", "predict",
"potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should",
"believe" and similar expressions) are not statements of historical
fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, ongoing uncertainties
and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ
materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking
statements, including statements pertaining production, schedules
and costs of exploratory drilling activity including those offshore
Namibia, uninsured risks,
regulatory and fiscal changes, availability of materials and
equipment, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations,
duration of the drilling program, availability of third party
service providers and defects in title. No assurance can be given
that these expectations will prove to be correct and such
forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. The
Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to
update these forward-looking statements, except as required by
applicable laws. These forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties relating to, among other things, changes in
macro-economic conditions and their impact on operations, changes
in oil prices, reservoir and production facility performance,
hedging counterparty contractual performance, results of
exploration and development activities, cost overruns, uninsured
risks, regulatory and fiscal changes including uncertainties around
applicable corporate income tax in Nigeria, defects in title, claims and legal
proceedings, availability of materials and equipment, availability
of skilled personnel, timeliness of government or other regulatory
approvals, actual performance of facilities, joint venture partner
underperformance, availability of financing on reasonable terms,
availability of third party service providers, equipment and
processes relative to specifications and expectations and
unanticipated environmental, health and safety impacts on
operations. Actual results may differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Africa Oil Corp.