Leadership

A record of exploration, discovery and commercialisation in Africa

An experienced management team and board, supported by advisers and operating partners on the ground.

Governance

Board of directors

Matthew Lofgran

CEO

Mr. Lofgran founded Elephant Oil in 2013 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. He has over 20 years of international oil and gas experience. Matthew was the Chief Executive Officer of Nostra Terra Oil & Gas, a UK-based oil and gas exploration and production company on the London Stock Exchange. He led the expansion of Nostra Terra into the USA as an operator, growing revenue by 8,023% and 40% CAGR during 13 years while he was CEO. Prior to becoming the CEO of Nostra Terra, Matthew was the Vice President of International Business Development for Robson Energy, LLC.

John Laguzza

Executive Director

Mr. Laguzza has advised on over $1 billion of private equity raises and M&A transactions across energy, energy transition, commodities and infrastructure. He has also been an institutional investor in oil & gas exploration and development companies, including listed junior E&P companies in Africa. In addition to many US investments, he has invested across many emerging markets including Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Thailand.

Peter Elliott

Director

Mr. Elliott has 30 years of experience in the international oil, gas and energy industry, working in new ventures and business development. Since 2004 he has served as Managing Director of PVE Consulting Ltd., an international advisory consulting firm to the upstream E&P sector, advising boards on transaction support, farm-outs and exploration campaign execution. A recognised specialist in Sub-Saharan Africa, he has built and managed oil company joint ventures across the continent — Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Namibia, Senegal/AGC, Sierra Leone and São Tomé & Príncipe. He holds a degree in Geology and an MSc in Petroleum Geology.

David Blanchard

Director

Mr. Blanchard is currently the President and Owner of DB Global Energy Consultants LLC providing advisory services for the petroleum upstream sector. David has 50 years of industry experience in asset management, partner and joint venture relations, business development, on-the-ground operations, production and exploration. He is a past elected AAPG President of the Africa Region 2014-2016. He was General Manager & Vice President, Egypt for El Paso Corporation, and General Manager & Managing Director for Egypt and Syria at Devon Energy, following fifteen years with Marathon Oil where he served as chief geologist and exploration supervisor in Syria.

Operations

Senior team

Ian Bulley

Lead Geologist

Mr. Bulley was a key member of the Hardman Resources team that discovered the East Africa Rift oil province, and supervised an exploration team of 3 geoscientists that contributed to the discovery of Mauritania's first producible hydrocarbons. He has over 35 years of exploration and development experience with major oil companies and independents in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the North Sea. Ian was a principal geologist in the Cairn Energy New Ventures team where he was instrumental in Cairn's entry into its onshore Côte d'Ivoire licenses and entry into Mauritania. He holds an MSc from Imperial College, London in Petroleum Geology, and is a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain.

Wil Kohou

Country Manager

Mr. Kohou is an experienced oil and gas professional with a background in electrical engineering. Over the past 15 years, he has focused on the upstream and downstream oil industry. Wil was formerly a project engineer at SIR (a Total Energies partly-owned refinery in Côte d'Ivoire). He was also an engineering supervisor for companies including Halliburton and GE Oil and Gas. He has extensive experience in the drilling and completion of complex unconventional horizontal oil and gas wells such as in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford, and Barnett Shale plays. Wil is a proven negotiator with an in-depth knowledge of regulations surrounding the oil and gas industry in the USA and Côte d'Ivoire.

Brian Park

Head of Finance & Operations

Mr. Park has 15 years of experience in strategic leadership, operations, finance, compliance, and corporate governance, spanning senior roles from Vice President of Finance & Administration and Controller for public oil and gas companies, to Vice President of Finance & Business Development of a private renewable energy company. Brian has held pivotal roles at ReconAfrica, Trillion Energy, STEP Energy, Cameco Corporation, and New Leaf Energy. His tenure in the African oil and gas industry includes developing and maintaining ReconAfrica's Namibia operations, working with NAMCOR on filings and a JV agreement, and maintaining strong relationships with the Ministry of Mines and Energy team, among other activities.

Simon Lucas

Drilling & Operations

Mr. Lucas is a 30-year drilling professional with a track record of delivery of offshore and onshore wells in established and frontier operating environments. Simon has over 14 years drilling experience with Shell alone and has been an Engineering Manager and Operations Manager for numerous oil operators such as SDX Energy, Europa Oil & Gas, and Silverstone Energy. He holds a BEng with Honors from the University of Nottingham in Mining Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer.

Advisers

The team around the company

Nominated Adviser

Cairn Financial Advisers LLP

Nominated Adviser to the admission, with strong experience in the natural resources sector.

Financial Adviser

Gneiss Energy Limited

Corporate finance across the energy value chain, combining investment banking with on-the-ground sector experience.

Registrar

Share Registrars

CREST-enabled UK registrar, established 2003, acting for over 190 client companies including listed issuers.

Legal

Druces LLP

Solicitors to the Company. City firm with a capital markets practice acting on AIM admissions.

Auditor

PKF Littlejohn LLP

Auditor and reporting accountant, among the most active reporting accountants on AIM.

Competent Person

RISC Advisory

Independent reserves and resources adviser, preparing Competent Person's Reports for the LSE and AIM across multiple jurisdictions.

Partners

Who we work with on the ground

Drilling partner

ACTIVOS

ACTIVOS Group will help with rig acquisition, outfitting, and then staffing and training local Côte d'Ivoire employees for drilling operations. ACTIVOS is a specialised consulting firm focused on energy assets across the globe, delivering independent technical assessment and project management to service companies, investors and contracting operators. Their lead team members represent 50+ years of experience across the US, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, China, India and Venezuela.

Geological and geophysical partner

PVE Consulting Ltd*

PVE Consulting Ltd is a UK-based international advisory consulting firm specialising in the upstream exploration and production sector. PVE provides advisory to boards and management of E&P companies, transaction support across acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures, business development, farm-out management, exploration campaign management and E&P research.

Technical partner

ARC Energy

ARC Energy, a US-based company, is a global solutions provider in oil, gas and water, offering a comprehensive range of services from design through to operational support.

*Related party: Peter Elliott, a Director of Elephant Oil, is Managing Director of PVE Consulting Ltd.