Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC (AIM: AUL) said it appointed Rowen Bainbridge to the board as chief executive officer with effect from July 27 2009.
Michael Seymour, the current managing director, will become president. He will remain as a director and will continue to be particularly involved in the relationships with ministries and partners in the countries in which the company is active.
Since its foundation by Michael Seymour in 2002, Aurelian has focused on building up its portfolio of licence interests and has established itself as a leading player in Central Europe with a significant appraisal project in Poland, gas production in Romania and prospective exploration acreage in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
Aurelian needs to commercialise its resource position through focusing on converting current exploration and appraisal assets to bookable reserves and development projects. The board has therefore decided it is now appropriate to appoint a CEO with the brief to lead the company through this next phase of its growth and in particular to drive through the appraisal and development of the cornerstone Siekierki tight gas accumulation in Poland.
Bainbridge has over twenty-two years of international experience, in both large and small companies, in leading, delivering and executing projects across the energy sector. He has previously held positions as CEO of Ferrexpo Petroleum operating in Ukraine and he was Vice President at BHP Billiton Petroleum where he successfully developed and commercialised a range of upstream oil and gas projects. His combination of project development and operating experience will add significant value as Aurelian progresses the projects in its portfolio, it added.