Ophir Energy // An African Energy Company

Board & Executive

The board of directors of Ophir (the Board) currently comprises the following Directors:

Nicholas Smith – Non-Executive Chairman

Mr Smith trained as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. He joined the Jardine Fleming Group in 1986 serving, from 2003, as Chief Financial Officer and as a member of the Executive Committee. Mr Smith became a director of Robert Fleming International Ltd in 1998 and the Director of Origination - Investment Banking serving until 2000. Mr Smith currently serves as a non executive director for Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd, PLUS Markets Group plc, Plus Markets plc, Sorbic International Ltd., Japan Opportunities Fund II Limited and 9 Flies Limited. Mr Smith served as Chairman of the Audit Committee until his appointment as Chairman on 4 September 2009. Mr Smith is a member of the Audit, Remuneration and Nominations Committees.

Alan Stein BSc, PhD – Managing Director

Dr Stein began his career in the UK as a geologist with oil consultants Dolan & Associates where he worked on projects in Europe, Australia and the Far East. In 1992, he established Dolan & Associates’ first international office in Australia and in 1994 was one of the founding partners of the IKODA consultancy group which had offices in London and Perth. In 1996 he was one of the founding directors of FIL Resources Limited which acquired interests in offshore Mauritania. These interests were sold to Fusion Oil & Gas plc (Fusion) and Dr Stein was appointed managing director of Fusion in 1998. Dr Stein resigned from Fusion following its sale in December 2003 and in early 2004 was one of the founding directors of Ophir.

Jonathan Taylor BSc, MSc – Technical Director

Mr Taylor has worked for Amerada Hess Ltd, Clyde Petroleum plc (Clyde) and Gulf Canada Resources Ltd (Gulf) in a variety of roles in Africa, the Far East and the Middle East. Between 1994 and 1996, he was responsible for exploration activity in Africa, initially for Clyde and subsequently for Gulf. In these roles, he was responsible for activities in the Ivory Coast, Algeria and Libya. Mr Taylor was appointed as exploration director of Fusion Oil & Gas plc in November 1998, resigning in March 2004. In early 2004, Mr Taylor was a founding director of Ophir.

Dennis McShane – Independent Non-Executive Director

Mr McShane is a principal of Midas Resource Partners. From September 2004 to November 2008 Mr McShane was a senior executive of the Ferrexpo group of companies serving as executive director of finance and business strategy. He led the successful initial public offering of Ferrexpo plc on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange in June 2007, advising on the recruitment of senior executives and on the restructuring of the group. Prior to joining Ferrexpo, Mr McShane was an investment banker with JPMorgan Chase & Co ("JPM"). Over his 25-year career with JPM, he established its office in Johannesburg and assisted in building JPM's emerging markets investment banking and mining and metals practices in London. In 2002, he became head of mining and metals in JPM's Asia-Pacific practice, based in Sydney. He attended Harvard Business School and the State University of New York. Mr McShane is a member of the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committees. He was appointed Chairman of the Audit and Nominations Committees on 4 September 2009.

Lyndon Powell – Independent Non-Executive Director

Mr Powell retired from HM Forces in 2006 after completing a full career with Royal Military Police and Special Forces. He served in diverse locations throughout the world in a variety of appointments, gaining a wide spectrum of experience in operational and strategic security management. He has worked with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, providing protection for HM Ambassadors and has commanded four major units. He was Chief of Special Forces at the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, and was an advisor to the Sierra Leone Armed Forces in Freetown. In 2007 he was appointed as Deputy Director Security Operations with Infinity SDC Ltd, and in 2008 moved to start his own company, Barbican Global Ltd, which specialises in independent security advice to the corporate sector. Mr Powell serves as Chairman of the Heath, Safety & Environment Committee and is a member of the Remuneration Committee.

John Lander - Independent Non-Executive Director

Mr Lander started his career with Shell as a geophysicist in their international division, and has more than 40 years’ experience in the international oil and gas industry, having held executive boardroom posts at RTZ Oil and Gas Limited, Pict Petroleum plc, Premier Oil plc, British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate plc and Tullow Oil plc, the latter until his retirement from fulltime employment. He is currently chairman of Alkane Energy plc and Canadian North Sea Energy Limited as well as being a non-executive director of Neon Resources Pty Ltd.

Mikki Xayiya BA, Mphil – Non-Executive Director

Mr Xayiya has been an active member of the African National Congress ("ANC") since 1978 and was imprisoned on Robben Island by the apartheid government of South Africa from 1984 to 1990. After his release in 1990, Mr Xayiya was involved in various community programmes in South Africa and Swaziland before becoming a policy advisor to the Gauteng Provincial Government in 1994. Mr Xayiya was appointed as managing director of Mawenzi Asset Managers (Pty) Ltd in 1998 and he joined Mvelaphanda in 1999, where he currently holds the position of executive chairman and also serves on several boards within the Group.

Michael L Cohen BA - Non-Executive Director

Mr Cohen is an Executive Managing Director, the Head of European Investing for The Och-Ziff Group and the CEO of Och-Ziff Management Europe Limited, a global institutional asset management firm. The firm presently manages in excess of US$24 billion. Mr Cohen joined Och-Ziff in 1997 as an Analyst, and is now based in London and manages the firm's London office located at 40 Argyll Street. Prior to Och-Ziff, Mr Cohen was employed as an Analyst at Franklin Mutual Advisory, analysing equity investments and as an Investment Banking Analyst at CS First Boston, specialising in the financial services sector. Mr Cohen holds a BA in Economics from Bowdoin College.

Harak Banthia - Non-Executive Director

Mr Banthia joined the Mittal Group in April 1995 and has worked as Chief Financial Officer/Director Finance for its steel business with Arcelor Mittal in Ireland, Romania and South Africa between 1995 and 2005. Since 2006 he has been associated with the Group as Director Finance/Vice President for its oil business from London. He has been responsible for financing, treasury, accounting, forex, hedging, strategies, major contract negotiation, merger & acquisition, legal, etc. Mr Banthia has extensive international experience in finance and management of various companies in the group. Prior to joining the Mittal Group, he was associated with Lovelock & Lewes, member of Coopers & Lybrand, in various capacities in the areas of general audit, consultancy, computer assurance group, programming, taxation, etc. He has graduated in commerce and is a rankholder Chartered Accountant.

Rajan Tandon - Non-Executive Director

Mr Rajan Tandon – is Vice President-in-charge of Finance and Accounts at Mittal Investments and has over 23 years of industrial experience. Prior to this he was Director-in-charge of Finance and Accounts at Mittal Steel. He has been a leading member of the Corporate Finance Team. He has also served as Treasurer for LNM Holdings NV until its merger with Ispat International in December 2004. With a 19-year career within the Mittal Steel Group, he has held various positions in Finance and Accounting within the Group. Mr Tandon is an Honours Graduate in Accounting and Commerce from St Xavier's College, Kolkata and a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Member of The Institute of Internal Auditors. He also serves on the Board of various Group Companies.

Jaroslaw Paczek - Non-Executive Director

Mr Paczek is a Barrister from Poland. He graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and subsequently attended the Harvard Business School and DePaul University in Chicago. He began his career as a lawyer with the Hogan & Hartson Legal office in Warsaw in 1995 and also practiced with Feuguer et Sociés in Paris. In 1997 Mr Paczek joined ERA GSM, the Polish Mobile operator as a Deputy General Director. For the last eight years, Mr Paczek has worked with the Kulczyk Group, the largest Private Equity Fund in Poland where he was involved in various M&A transactions in the Eastern European Region, in particular in the Telecom, Electricity and Insurance sectors. Mr Paczek transferred to their London office in 2006 and has been responsible for the successful generation and development of their portfolio of oil, gas and mineral investments. Mr Paczek was appointed to the Board in December 2008.

Senior Managers

Day-to-day management of the Group’s business is the responsibility of the board of Ophir Services Pty Ltd* (Ophir Services). In addition to the persons identified below, Alan Stein and Jonathan Taylor also serve on the board of directors of Ophir Services.

John Innes BCom, H Dip Acc, ACA – Director – Finance

Mr Innes is a chartered accountant (qualified in Australia) with over 20 years experience in the resources sector. Before joining the oil industry in 2001, Mr Innes was a project manager with responsibility for the overseeing of Australia's then largest mining company's interests in two large joint ventures in Western Australia. In 2001, Mr Innes joined Fusion Oil & Gas plc (Fusion) as the finance manager where he was responsible for all financial and corporate affairs of the Fusion group. Mr Innes joined Ophir in May 2004 and serves on the board of the Group’s main operating subsidiary, Ophir Services. Prior to entering the resources sector Mr Innes was a senior manager with Deloitte working in Australia and South Africa where he specialised in corporate advisory services, taxation and assurance.

Mark Marshall BA (Hons) – Director – Commercial & Legal

Mr Marshall is a qualified solicitor with over 18 years experience in the oil and gas industry. Before entering the oil industry in 1988, he was a solicitor in commercial private practice in England. He has worked for Chevron (UK) Limited, British Gas plc, Monument Oil and Gas plc and most recently from 2000 to 2005 for Premier Oil plc as their commercial manager, with particular responsibility for Africa and southern Asia. In his time in the oil and gas industry, he has gained a broad experience of, and participated in the negotiation of, several international oil and gas exploration and production transactions. He joined Ophir in November 2005 and serves on the board of the Group’s main operating subsidiary, Ophir Services.

Michael Fischer BSc (Hons), PhD – Director – Operations

Dr Fischer is a geologist who spent the first 10 years of his career with BP Exploration in Aberdeen. Following assignments in Spain, Australia, Papua New Guinea and the People’s Republic of China, he moved to Woodside in Perth, where he was part of the group responsible for building the company’s position outside of the North West Shelf interests (Woodside’s core Australian producing asset). Dr Fischer was part of the core team responsible for developing and delivering Woodside’s international strategy. Dr Fischer then took on the position of asset manager (West Africa) and led the team responsible for discoveries at Chinguetti, Banda and Tiof. He left Woodside in 2004 to join OMV Exploration & Production GmbH as senior vice-president for exploration, operations and projects where he had full responsibility for both the geoscience and engineering technical functions. Mr Fischer joined Ophir in 2006.

David Bond BSc (Hons) – General Manager – Drilling

Mr Bond began his career in 1981 as a drilling engineer with ConocoPhillips Ltd in the North Sea. He has held several positions in both engineering and supervision with BHP Petroleum in the Timor Sea and with Woodside. During his time with Woodside, he pioneered the development of the “Technical Limit” management process which significantly changed Woodside’s drilling and completion performance and has since been adopted by several major oil companies around the world. Mr Bond was also Woodside’s international drilling manager and he led Woodside’s first international operation in deepwater offshore Mauritania. Prior to joining Ophir in February 2007, Mr Bond was general manager (drilling & completions) for Reliance Industries Limited in India, managing a multi-rig operation for both ultra-deepwater exploration and ultra-deepwater developments. Mr Bond is currently leading Ophir’s capability expansion to drill in ultra-deepwater in Africa.

Colin Ivory BSc – General Manager – Operations

Mr Ivory began his career in the oil and gas industry in 1982, initially as a geologist for Petro-Canada Inc (Petro-Canada) based in Calgary, Alberta. At Petro-Canada he worked on diverse projects, including Alberta development drilling, offshore Canada East Coast frontier exploration and a number of international postings which included Pakistan and Yemen. In 1993, Mr Ivory joined Anglo Siberian Oil Company plc working as the project manager for the appraisal and development planning of the Vankor field in the West Siberia Basin. This project was developed in close cooperation with joint venture partners including Shell and TotalFinaElf. In early 2004, Mr Ivory moved to West Siberian Resources Ltd as the technical director overseeing the development of a number of fields in the Tomsk region. Mr Ivory subsequently joined PanOcean Energy Corporation Limited (PanOcean) in 2005 and spent the next two years working to successfully develop its producing assets in Gabon. He left PanOcean when it was sold to Addax Petroleum in 2006. Mr Ivory joined Ophir in April 2007.

*David Bond and Colin Ivory are not at this time Directors of OSPL.