Finian O’Sullivan, Executive Chairman (aged 56)
Finian O’Sullivan holds an honours degree in Geology from University College Galway. Finian has pursued an international career in the oil industry spanning 32 years with Chevron, Geophysical Systems, Olympic Oil and Gas and Burren Energy. Finian founded Burren Energy in 1994 and developed its business in Turkmenistan and West Africa leading to Burren’s flotation on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of £175 million in 2003. As Chief Executive, Finian expanded Burren’s activities with successful exploration and steady growth in production. In 2008, Burren Energy was sold to Eni for £1.7 billion.

Hywel John, Chief Executive Officer (aged 47)
Hywel John holds an honours degree in Law from Cambridge University. Following qualification as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in London he held progressively senior roles in the oil and gas sector with Kerr McGee and PowerGen North Sea. Hywel worked for Burren Energy between 2000 and 2008 in a number of executive positions with legal, commercial and financial responsibilities including being Burren’s operating committee representative on the 50,000 bopd M’Boundi Field in Congo (Brazzaville). Most recently he was Chief Financial Officer of Candax Energy, a Canadian oil and gas company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Andrey Pannikov, Non-Executive Director (aged 61)
Andrey Pannikov has worked in the oil industry for almost 30 years. He was a co-founder of Lukoil and, in 1990, he established Urals Trading to work in Russia, Kazakhstan and Western Europe. In 1995, Andrey became a director and major shareholder in Burren Energy and continued to be a substantial shareholder in the company until its sale to Eni in 2008.

Jonathan Cooke OBE, Non-Executive Director (aged 68)
Jonathan Cooke served in the Royal Navy for over 30 years during which time he commanded a squadron of nine submarines and served operationally in Indonesia and the Falklands. More recently he served as a British naval attaché in Paris. He left the Royal Navy having obtained the rank of Commodore in 1996 and became Clerk of The Leathersellers’ Company. In 1997 he became a Non-Executive Director of the Anglo Siberian Oil Company plc prior to its flotation on AIM and remained a director until it was acquired by Rosneft in 2003.

David MacFarlane, Non-Executive Director (aged 54)
David MacFarlane is an economics graduate and Chartered Accountant. He has more than 25 years experience in financial control and management in the upstream oil and gas industry. Between 1985 and 1993 he was Finance Director of the MOM Group, later becoming Finance Director for two key sub-groups of John Wood Group plc. He joined Dana Petroleum in 2002 from Amerada Hess where, during the previous six years, he headed finance for its fast growing international exploration and production group. David was Finance Director of Dana Petroleum when it was acquired by Korea National Oil Corporation in 2010 for £1.87 billion, representing a premium of 59 per cent. to the pre-bid share price.