VLS.L Regulatory News (VLS)

1 Feb 2010 07:00



1st February 2010

OXFORD CATALYSTS GROUP PLC

("Oxford Catalysts" or "the Group" or "the Company")

Board Appointment

Oxford Catalysts Group PLC, the leading technology innovator for clean synthetic fuels, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Dr Andrew Jamieson, OBE to the Board as a Non-executive Director with immediate effect. 

Andrew worked for Royal Dutch Shell ("Shell") from 1974 until June 2009, most recently as Executive Vice President Gas & Projects and as a member of Shell's Gas & Power Executive Committee. Andrew's Projects portfolio represented multi-billion dollar annual spend and covered all of Shell's projects in chemicals, refining, gas, LNG, coal gasification, and most relevantly to the Group's activities, GTL, including Shell's landmark Pearl project in Qatar. The Gas portfolio included R&D on all aspects of gas processing, liquefaction and conversion, including coal and biomass gasification, as well as gas master planning and HSSE services.

Previously, Andrew held a variety of roles within Shell including Managing Director of Nigeria LNG Ltd. in Lagos, CEO of North West Shelf Ventures, Woodside Energy Ltd. in Australia, and Director of Shell Oceania which covered Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Andrew is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Institute of Chemical Engineers, and currently also holds Non-executive Directorships in Woodside Energy Limited (Australia) and Leif Hoegh Shipping Company Ltd. (Norway). 

Commenting on his appointment, Andrew Jamieson said:

"I am delighted to be joining this dynamic team at Oxford Catalysts. The Company is working with some of the most exciting technologies in the synthetic fuels space, and I look forward to using my industry experience to help them realise the promise of small scale GTL."

Commenting on the appointment, Pierre Jungels, Chairman of Oxford Catalysts, said:

"We are very pleased that Andrew is joining our Board. His strong reputation and considerable experience in the field of gas technologies and projects world-wide, highlighted by his responsibility for Shell's Pearl GTL plant in Qatar, is a huge endorsement of our small scale GTL technology. 

"Oxford Catalysts' continued growth and successful development will greatly benefit from Andrew's input and expertise in both technology and project management". 

The directorships and partnerships held by Andrew Jamieson (aged 62) now and over the five years preceding the date of appointment are as follows:

Current Directorships / Partnerships

Non-executive Director Leif Hoegh Shipping Company Ltd.

Non-executive Director Woodside Energy Limited

Directorships in the past 5 years

Qatar Shell GTL, Qatar

Shell Global Solutions (Eastern Europe) BV 

Shell Manufacturing Services BV

Shell Gas Nigeria BV

Shell Technical Services BV

Twister BV

As at the date of this announcement, Dr Jamieson, OBE has no interests in the capital of the Company.

There are no other matters to be announced as required under paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

Notes to Editors

Oxford Catalysts designs and develops technology for the production of clean synthetic fuels from both conventional fossil fuels and renewable sources such as biowaste. The Group is primarily focused on the emerging market for distributed smaller scale production of synthetic fuels via Fischer-Tropsch ("FT") synthesis − a market that has the potential of producing as much as 25 million barrels of fuel a day. 

The FT reaction is used when converting natural gas, coal or bio-mass into clean high-performance liquid synthetic fuels, processes known as GTL, CTL and BTL respectively. The Group is the recognised world leader in the design and development of high-activity catalysts and associated novel chemical reactors for the small scale production of synthetic fuels. (The Group's reactor technology − known as microchannel process technology − is marketed under the brand name of Velocys).

Oxford Catalysts Group PLC is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE: OCG). The Group has some 90 employees with facilities near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK and Columbus, Ohio, USA.

www.oxfordcatalysts.com 

www.velocys.com