Retirement of Chairman and Appointment of Alastair McBain as Non-Executive Chairman

Retirement of Chairman and

Appointment of Alastair McBain as Non-Executive Chairman

PetroNeft (AIM: PTR) an oil & gas exploration and production company, operating in the Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, and 50% owner and operator of Licences 61 and 67, announces that David Golder has, after 15 years’ service to the company, decided to retire from the Board with immediate effect.

The Board has unanimously elected Alastair McBain, who joined the board on 29^th January 2021, as Non-Executive Chairman of the Company.

Alastair has had a highly successful 37 year career in the international oil and gas industry. Initially working for 17 years at Royal Dutch Shell in numerous senior international commercial positions. He joined the Vitol group in 1995 to head up the growth of the group’s portfolio of upstream assets and became CEO of Arawak Energy in 2002. Alastair grew the company from an initial $20M valuation with zero production to a $0.5Bn company producing 12,000 boepd from assets in Kazakhstan, Russia and Azerbaijan. He also oversaw the migration of the company from a junior listing on the Toronto exchange to a full listing on the London Stock Exchange. Following Arawak’s acquisition by Vitoil, he worked with Vitol in a variety of senior positions including board Chairman of GeoAlliance, one of Ukraine’s leading independent producers of natural gas and gas liquids.

He left Vitol in early 2020 to form Sarum Energy, a company which, having acquired a 50% interest in Licence 67, is currently completing the sale of a 40% interest to PetroNeft. He holds an MA in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford and in addition to his native English, is also a fluent Mandarin speaker.

David Golder, Former Non Executive Chairman commented:

“I have been contemplating retirement for a while but wanted to wait until the right time. Alastair’s appointment to the board allowed me to take the decision. His skill sets including his experience in growing Arawak into valuable E&P company in the same region, culminating in a highly successful monetization of the company’s producing assets, will be a tremendous asset to PetroNeft as they seek to execute the strategy of building shareholder value through growth in production and cashflow. 

I am delighted that he has accepted the invitation to become Chairman of the Board. I retire at an exciting time in the company’s development and am confident that I am leaving the company in good hands.”

Alastair McBain, Non Executive Chairman commented:

“Over the last 12 years, I have built a strong understanding of PetroNeft, its assets and its strategy. The company has excellent assets, strong local management and expertise and an intelligent strategy to utilize both in the interests of shareholders. Licence 61 and 67 offer an outstanding range of low risk, low capital development, appraisal and exploration opportunities. 

I am honored and excited to become Chairman. I look forward to working with the rest of the board and management team to deliver the tremendous upside opportunity that is the PetroNeft proposition for shareholders. 

Finally, I would like to thank David Golder who has provided excellent service to the company, driving through the initial development and more recently guiding it through very challenging times. I wish him well in his retirement.” 

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