Agriterra Ld Regulatory News (AGTA)

7 Nov 2005 08:45

White Nile Limited07 November 2005 7 November 2005 White Nile Limited ('White Nile' or 'the Company') 'Appoints Chief Operations Officer' White Nile Ltd, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration company, has appointedMr. Philip Ward as Chief Operations Officer with immediate effect. Mr. Ward has over 25 years executive experience within the oil and gas industry.He has spent considerable time in Sudan, Libya and Singapore and has worked withmajor companies and industry consultants including Repsol, AGIP, Lasmo, Lundin,Petronas and Tecknica on oil & gas exploration, production and financialprojects. Until recently, Mr. Ward was a director of Lundin Sudan BV where he managed theCompany's US$305 million exploration and production budget, ensured complianceto partners and government in regards to the Exploration and Production SharingAgreement with the Government of Sudan, as well as the Joint Operating Agreementwith partners. He also negotiated all contracts and raised sale and purchaseagreements of oil assets in Sudan in excess of US$142 million and wasresponsible for the financial operation of three onshore blocks. When LundinSudan BV was bought out by PetronasCarigali White Nile (5B) Ltd in May 2003, heinitially assumed the role of General Manager. Prior to this he was an independent consultant to the oil and gas industry,providing advice on projects including the production and manufacturer of gasmetering systems, a 20,000 barrels per day refinery and a 200,000 per dayrefinery and a five-year government-to-government loan package in excess of $750million for a civil contract overseas. He also worked as General Manager forGunny Oilfield Services Ltd based in Libya where he focussed primarily on waterinjection oil projects. From 1989-1999 he was Commercial Manager and Branch Manager in Libya for Teknica(UK) Ltd. Teknica, one of the world's largest independent consulting companiesto the oil and gas industry, is a high technology company providing integratedgeological, geophysical, petrophysical and engineering consulting services.Initially he was advisor to the CEO of Umm Al Jawaby Oil Service Company and thenational oil company of Libya to develop, establish and manage an engineeringand project management company to provide services to the oil, gas andhydrocarbons industry. He negotiated and was responsible for all joint venture activities of thecompany between Amec, John Brown and Agra Monenco (Canada) and established awork force of in excess of 650 in Canada, Italy and Libya. He also negotiatedon behalf of the company in the 1991 REPSOL Waha Fareg infield development,capital circa $1.5 billion, and feasibility studies for LASMO Elephant field,including at a later stage conceptual design and front-end engineering. A fiveyear Technical Service Agreement for AGIP Oil Libya was also negotiated whichgenerated revenue of in the excess of £25 million per year, showing post taxprofit in excess of £1.5 million. Other duties at Teknica included the supervision of proposals and tenders,recruitment of personnel, litigation and contract negotiation, preparation offive year business plans and budgeting control and responsible for allprocurement and logistics activities and financial results. Between 1977-1999 he worked for engineering and construction company Brown andRoot. Based in the UK and Libya he fulfilled various roles including in countryManager for Libya, responsible for all activities within the oil and gasindustry, in North Africa. Prior to this he was responsible for Brown and Root(Middle East) Ltd operations in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.Responsibilities in Libya included the supervision of two major projects namelythe Engineering and Project Management of the Ras Lanuf Oil and Gas processingproject ($3 billion phase I) and ongoing maintenance project for Sirte OilCompany. White Nile Chairman Phil Edmonds said: "Philip's in-depth experience of the oiland gas industry will be invaluable to the Company, in particular, theexperience he has gained whilst working in South Sudan. Since 2001 he has beenfinancially responsible for three operating blocks located close to our block,working closely with the Government of Sudan and spending considerable time outin the field. I believe that Philip, who will be based at our office in Juba,will provide an extremely positive impetus for the Company." The following information is given in relation to Mr. Ward as required by theAIM rules. Philip Francis Xavier Ward, aged 51, is or has been during the past five years adirector or partner of the following companies or partnerships: Past Lundin Sudan BV There is no other information that falls to be disclosed under Schedule 2paragraph (f) of the AIM rules. * * E N D S * * Contacts: Phil Edmonds White Nile Ltd Tel: 0845 108 6060 Hugo de Salis St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange