Board and Senior Management
A management team with unrivalled Caucasus experience
Directors
Paul Haywood
Chief Executive Officer
Paul has more than 15 years experience in the oil and gas sector, specialising in identifying, acquiring, developing and monetising energy assets. He focuses on building and scaling growth-oriented projects, leveraging cross-functional skills encompassing strategy, execution, capital markets, transaction management and operations. As well as founding Block Energy, which now operates a high-quality portfolio of oil and gas assets in Georgia, Paul established Antler Global, an independent energy company acquiring and developing high-impact oil and gas assets in African markets. He currently serves as Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chairman at AIM-listed Synergia Energy.
Philip Dimmock
Non-Executive Chairman
Philip spent a significant part of his career at BP in a wide variety of senior positions, including manager of the Forties oil field. Subsequently, his executive roles included Vice President International/Managing Director UK at Ranger Oil Ltd/Canadian Natural Resources and Vice President Operations at Vanco Energy. In non-executive board positions, Philip was a director of Nautical Petroleum Plc and, recently, the Senior Independent Director of Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. He currently serves as Advisor to Oando Energy Resources Inc. Philip has an MA in Physics from the University of Oxford.
Jeremy Asher
Non-Executive Director
Jeremy is Chairman & CEO of Tower Resources plc. In recent years he served as a director of NYSE-listed Pacific Drilling SA, Deputy Chairman of London-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd, and as a director of TASE-listed Oil Refineries Ltd. Previously he co-headed the global oil products business at Marc Rich & Co (now Glencore AG) and then acquired and developed a 275,000 b/d oil refinery in Germany, before serving as CEO of PA Consulting Group and advising and investing in numerous companies in the energy sector. He holds a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Senior Management
Guram Maisuradze
Chief Operating Officer
Guram has served the company for five years, holding the role of Operations Manager, where, supported by the broader team in Georgia, he has been responsible for successfully planning and executing the drilling of new wells and for the overall management of production operations.
Dr Stephen James
Subsurface Manager
Stephen has over 40 years experience working as a geoscientist in field development and reservoir management, mainly in the course of working for Shell and BP. He has worked on a range of fractured reservoirs including BP’s Clair field where Stephen served as the lead development geologist and subsurface manager. He also has significant former Soviet Union experience including having worked in Siberia and Yamal and is familiar with the technologies and development styles employed in the region. Stephen holds a PhD in Sedimentology from the University of Aston.
Penny Milner
Geophysicist
Penny is a seismic interpreter with nearly 40 years in the energy sector. She spent 20 years at Phillips Petroleum assessing North Sea and Arabian Peninsula assets and 19 years at Alpha Petroleum working on gas fields and fracture-related oil reservoirs. She has expertise in deepwater channel systems in the Levant Basin and specializes in rapid fault interpretation, inversion feasibility studies, and seismic attribute analysis. Penny holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Sheffield and an MSc in Marine Geology and Geophysics from University College London.
Fergus Robson
Commercial Manager
Fergus is an experienced commercial and financial specialist having worked for operating E&P companies, energy consultancies and financial institutions. He has a wealth of experience in the former Soviet Union, having worked in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia and Georgia. He also has West African and Middle Eastern experience and has previously consulted for major banks and energy companies. He holds an MA (Hons) from Glasgow University in Politics and Central East European Studies.