SOLO Oil appoint new CFO and COO

Solo Oil plc (LON:SOLO), a natural resources investment company focused on assembling a balanced, full lifecycle portfolio comprised of production, development and exploration assets, today announced that it has strengthened its senior management team through the appointment of Romina Mele-Cornish as Chief Financial Officer and Doug Rycroft as Chief Operating Officer with immediate effect, with the expectation that they will be appointed to the Board in due course.

Commenting on these appointments, Alastair Ferguson, Executive Chairman, said:

“These both represent high-quality appointments that further strengthen our management capabilities with the relevant skillset and experience that we require as we continue through this strategic evolution. 

Romina’s varied industry background lends itself perfectly to our current juncture in terms of Corporate Finance and M&A experience, and the expertise garnered through her role with Oil & Gas UK will serve us well as we seek to execute transformational growth in line with our stated objectives.

Doug has already proven himself to be a highly valuable member of the team bringing exceptional technical and commercial skills that have contributed significantly to our continued turnaround, so we are pleased to formalise his role as COO and benefit from his talents going forward.

On behalf of the Board, we welcome both to their respective new roles and look forward to working with them as we deliver our ambitious growth strategy.”

Appointment of CFO

Mrs Mele-Cornish joins from Oil & Gas UK, a leading UK offshore oil and gas industry lobby organisation, where she served as Fiscal Policy Manager since 2017.  In that role, she represented around 400 members on fiscal matters, shaped government policies and successfully negotiated complex legislative provisions that advance industry’s interests.

Mrs Mele-Cornish began her career at Deloitte in 2006, where she became an Assistant Director with a focus on upstream Oil & Gas.  During this time, she worked in the Corporate Finance team, specialising in M&A deals and Capital Market transactions, and spent time seconded to BP’s M&A team to provide guidance on transaction execution and legal agreements.

After leaving Deloitte in 2014, she joined Oyster Petroleum, a Private Equity backed UKCS focused E&P company, in Business Development, and managed two A&D processes with a combined valuation of circa £150 million. Upon the sale of Oyster Petroleum, she established her own consulting firm, Colibri Energy Consulting. In her capacity as an independent consultant specialising in business development and corporate planning, Mrs Mele-Cornish advised Edison E&P UK Limited senior management on a range of commercial, business and corporate development and new venture activities. These included commercial support to existing portfolio assets (Scott and Telford) and farm-in screening on Southern North Sea gas opportunities.

Mrs Mele-Cornish, ACA, is a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, as well as the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain.  She has a Graduate Certificate in Geology from Birkbeck/UCL and a MA in European Communication Studies from Amsterdam University. 

Appointment of COO

Mr Rycroft has been acting as General Manager of Solo Oil since being seconded by Gneiss Energy in March 2019.  During this time, he has played an instrumental role in helping the Board to deliver on its strategic objectives in terms of rationalising the portfolio and driving new business development. 

Mr Rycroft is an experienced operations manager and commercial negotiator having held asset management, business development and commercial roles across the upstream oil and gas industry and as a specialist energy advisor. In 2017, Mr Rycroft joined Gneiss Energy Limited (“Gneiss”) where he held the role of Commercial Director specialising in M&A and capital raising advisory work for both public and private energy companies and successfully executing projects across a board range of geographies including the UKNS, Europe, Africa and Latin America.

Prior to joining Gneiss, Mr Rycroft joined Ophir Energy in 2012, where he managed their flagship asset in Tanzania, at a time when the company drilled up the major resource base to support the onshore terrestrial LNG development. The culmination of his commercial efforts in Tanzania was the divestment of 50% of the remaining stake in the project for US$ 1.3 billion to Pavilion Energy.

Mr Rycroft was part of the management team that established a privately-owned California onshore operator (2007-2011) securing a joint venture with the ExxonMobil / Shell joint operating company Aera Energy LLC (“Aera”) for the deep exploration rights under the sixth largest oilfield in the continental United States, South Belridge. In his role he was responsible for all in-country operations of the company, commercial interactions with Aera and supported the fundraising efforts of the Board.

Mr Rycroft holds a Masters in Terrorism and International Relations from Aberystwyth University and an MA (Hons) in History and Politics from the University of Edinburgh.

Further information on Mrs Mele-Cornish and Mr Rycroft as required in accordance with Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules

Click to view all articles for the EPIC:
Or click to view the full company profile:
    Facebook
    Twitter
    LinkedIn
    Solo Oil Plc

    More articles like this

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil prices gain on fall in U.S. crude stockpiles

    Oil prices rose on Thursday as a sharp drop in oil stockpiles outweighed concerns that a spike in U.S. coronavirus infections and revived lockdown measures in California could stall a recovery in fuel demand. Brent crude

    Solo Oil Plc

    Solo Oil enters into US$5,000,000 investment facility

    Solo Oil plc (LON:SOLO), the AIM investing company targeting attractive production and development opportunities within the European gas market, has announced the entry into a share subscription deed with Prolific Basins LLC, a U.S.-based specialist energy

    Solo Oil Plc

    Crude oil prices inch up

    Oil prices inched up on Friday as the bullish impetus from signs of fuel demand recovery was kept in check by a rising number of new coronavirus cases in the United States and China and tentative

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil jumps more than 1%

    Oil rose more than 1% on Monday on tighter supplies from major producers and as coronavirus lockdowns continued to ease, but gains were capped by worries that a worldwide rise in new infections might stall a

    Solo Oil Plc

    Re-balancing the oil market

    The oil market reacted positively to the IEA report yesterday, with Brent trading back above US$40/bbl. The agency reported that OECD inventories at the end of April stood at a little over 3.1b bbls, whilst preliminary

    Solo Oil Plc

    The Helium Market is Heating Up

    It’s not all hot-air balloons and funny voices. Investors are starting to get excited about Helium stocks, and for good reason. The well-known and little-produced gas is important for a variety of industries. The most commonly

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil prices rise ahead of OPEC+ meeting

    Oil prices rose on Tuesday, with traders waiting to see whether major producers agree to extend their huge output cuts to shore up prices at a virtual meeting expected later this week. Brent crude futures rose 0.91%,

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil Rallies with investors eyeing demand recovery

    Oil rallied as investors looked past an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles to focus on tentative signs of a recovery in fuel demand as well as output cuts. Futures in New York rose 2.7% Thursday. While

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil prices increase amid signs of improving demand

    Oil prices have increased amid signs of improvement in fuel demand and a fall in the US crude stocks. But lingering concerns over the economic disruption from the Covid-19 outbreak, especially in the US, capped gains.

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil settles higher

    Oil futures finished higher Tuesday, with U.S. prices at a five-week high on expectations that falling production levels and a gradual revival in demand from a COVID-19 pandemic-related drop, will ease a global glut of crude

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil prices surge over 10%

    Oil prices jumped on Thursday, extending steep gains in the previous session on signs the U.S. crude glut is not growing as quickly as expected and that gasoline demand battered by COVID-19 restrictions is starting to

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil prices begin recovery

    Oil prices rose nearly 20 percent Wednesday, a sign of a stabilizing market after trading went into negative pricing for the first time in history at the start of the week. West Texas Intermediate settled at

    Solo Oil Plc

    Solo Oil at a glance

    Introducing Solo Oil Oil and gas Investment company Listed on the London AiM Market (SOLO) Objectives To acquire and develop a diverse global portfolio of oil & gas assets Portfolio Non-operated oil & gas assets: Major

    Solo Oil Plc

    Oil prices jump on hopes for OPEC

    Oil bounced back on Wednesday, with U.S. crude jumping over $1, lifted by hopes that a meeting between OPEC members and allied producers on Thursday will trigger output cuts to shore up prices that have crumbled