ABOUT US

Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani

Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer

Nationality: USA

Appointed: April 2008

Background: Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani is an experienced oil and gas executive and serves concurrently as Chairman of the Board of Directors of DNO International ASA, a Norwegian listed oil and gas company active primarily in the Middle East and also as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Foxtrot International, LDC, a privately-held Franco-American oil and gas company active in West Africa. He was founder and first chief executive of Houston-based Apache International, Inc.

In addition to his industry positions, Mr. Mossavar-Rahmani is a Director of the Persepolis Foundation and serves as a member of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Visiting Committee and on the Board of Trustees of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has published more than ten books and dozens of articles on global energy markets and was decorated  Commandeur de l’Ordre National de la Côte d’Ivoire for services to the energy sector of that country.

Education: He is a graduate of Princeton (AB) and Harvard Universities (MPA).

Nicholas Atencio

General Manager

Nationality: USA

Appointed: August 2011

Background: Nick Atencio manages the technical and administration groups at RAK Petroleum. This includes production, drilling, geosciences, HSE, new ventures as well as all administrative support functions.

He began his career in 1981 and has been employed in the upstream sector for almost 30 years, with experience both onshore and offshore, and with both small and large companies. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Atencio served as chief operating officer and co-founder of Remora Energy, a private exploration and production company active in Colombia. He has also held senior international operations positions at Kerr McGee Oil and Gas Corporation and Apache Corporation.

Education: Graduate in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines (Bachelor of Science).

Peter D. Cleary

General Counsel and Director of Legal Affairs

General Counsel and Director of Legal Affairs

Nationality: USA

Appointed: January 2010

Background: Peter Cleary has over 30 years' legal experience in managing complex cross-border transactions, including energy and infrastructure projects, debt financings, restructurings and capital markets transactions.

Previously, he was the Director and General Counsel of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group, where, in addition to oversight of all contracts of guarantee, he successfully led an initiative of modernising MIGA's mandate through comprehensive amendment of its charter documents and policies.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group, he spent 28 years in private legal practice. From 1997 to 2005, he was a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, based in Hong Kong, where he was the head of the Asian energy, infrastructure and project finance practice. He also has been a partner of Chadbourne Parke LLP (1993 to 1997) and Coudert Brothers (1985 to 1993), specialising in finance and infrastructure.

Education: He has a JD from Harvard Law School (1977) and an AB from Princeton University (1974). He is admitted to practice in New York and California.

Shelley Watson

Group Commercial Director

Nationality: Australia
Appointed: 2007
Background: Ms. Watson manages the negotiation of new concession licenses as well as gas sales agreements, product marketing, joint operating agreements and farm-in/out agreements. She began her career working as a reservoir surveillance and facilities engineer with Esso Australia in the offshore Bass Strait operation for three years.

In 1997 she moved to Novus Petroleum in Sydney where she worked predominantly as a commercial analyst on existing assets and new venture activities. In January 1999 Shelley moved to Dubai with the task of expanding Novus’s portfolio in the Middle East. She was also responsible for operational business activities, managing the Bukha field and Novus’s Egyptian joint venture assets. From Novus, Shelley moved to Indago Petroleum and then assumed her current position in 2007 following the acquisition of Indago’s assets by RAK Petroleum.

Education: Shelley Watson graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Chemical Engineering in 1992 and a Bachelor of Commerce in 1993.

Pierre-Henri Boutry

Finance Director

Nationality: France

Appointed: October 2008

Background: Pierre-Henri Boutry is a veteran of the oil and gas industry, having worked with Elf and Total in Africa, Latin America and Europe. He has held positions with responsibility for budgets and planning, accounting, treasury, financing, taxation and human resource management in exploration and production as well as in refining and marketing.

Between 1997 and 2001, he was Deputy General Finance Manager of Elf Petroleum Nigeria S.A., one of the group’s major production subsidiaries, where he was in charge of all financial operations at the head of a department of 50 based in Lagos and Port Harcourt. After leaving Total in 2002, Pierre-Henri returned to Africa and took the position of Finance and Control Manager of Société d’Exploitation du Chemin de fer Transgabonais (SETRAG S.A., a subsidiary of the Eramet-Comilog mining company). He was responsible for all financial operations and computerised management systems of the Gabonese railway company.

Education: Pierre-Henri Boutry is a 1972 graduate of France’s Hautes Etudes Commerciales (MBA Finance equivalent degree) and a Chartered Accountant since 1982.

Arya Bolurfrushan

Chief of Staff and Management Information Systems Manager

Nationality : USA

Appointed : September 2010

Background : In 2006 Arya Bolufrushan joined Goldman Sachs’ Investment Strategy Group in New York. His work included strategic asset allocation for large clients, industry leading research on modelling private equity, hedge fund and commodity returns and using Monte Carlo simulations to determine optimal portfolio structures.

Education: Arya graduated from the Harvard Business School with an MBA in 2010. Prior to that, he completed his BS in Information Systems and an Accelerated Master of Science in Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon in 2006.

Philippe Baffray

Geoscience Manager

Nationality : France

Appointed : September 2010

Background Philippe Baffray is a geoscientist with worldwide experience in the oil and gas industry. He spent 22 years with Elf and Total and worked in countries such as Scotland, Norway, the Netherlands, Congo, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Australia. He has held various positions ranging from subsurface geologist to exploration director. More recently, Philippe has consulted on oil and gas field evaluations, principally in Russia, Kazakhstan and the Middle East.

Education: He graduated from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie (ENSG) in Nancy, France in 1979.

Gary Drimie

Health, Safety and Environment Manager

Nationality: South Africa
Appointed: February 2011
Background: With almost 30 years of service in the oil and gas industry, Gary Drimie has worked in his native South Africa, the Far East, South America, Australia and the Middle East, among other locations. He has supervised HSE efforts on major drilling projects both onshore and offshore and has senior level HSE experience in engineering, construction, commissioning and start up phases of refineries, gas plants and production facilities.

Education: Qualifications from NOSA (National Occupational Safety Association) and a Safety Management Diploma from the College of Public Administration as well as a BSc in Occupational Health and Safety from Trinity College and University.

David Thorpe

Operations Manager

Nationality: UK
Appointed: June 2008
Background: David Thorpe is in charge of production activities and brings 30 years of experience of working in the oil industry during which time he has worked for Shell, Exxon, BP, Sunoco and Sinochem. He brings a wealth of experience in prospect and field evaluation, drilling, production, maintenance and project management.

David has worked in the Middle East for nine years; four in Oman and five in Dubai where most recently he was Operations Manager with Atlantis during the drilling, fabrication and installation of Umm Al Quwain's first offshore natural gas platform.

Education: David Thorpe graduated from the University of Newcastle in 1976 with a BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering and obtained his MSc in Cryogenics from the University of Southampton in 1978.

Michel Pick

Group Technical Director

Nationality: France

Appointed: October 2009

Background: Michel Pick has broad experience in oil and gas production, maintenance, drilling, logistics, contracts, procurement, field development and operations. He joined Elf in 1976 and served in various capacities in Western Europe and Africa.

Following the merger between Elf and Total, Michel served as Operations Manager for Total Exploration and Production in Myanmar from 2001 to 2005. He ended his career with Total in 2009 as Operations Manager in Russia.

Education: Mr. Pick is a graduate of Ecole Centrale in Paris and the Institut Français du Petrole (IFP)-Ecole Nationale Superieure des Petroles et Moteurs (ENSPM),