CALGARY, April 15, 2013 /CNW/ - Sea Dragon Energy Inc.
("Sea Dragon" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SDX) is pleased to
announce the appointment of Paul
Welch as President and CEO of the Company with immediate
effect.
Mr. Said Arrata is pleased to announce the
appointment of Mr. Paul Welch as the
new President and CEO of the Company. Mr. Arrata will step down as
CEO but will continue with Sea Dragon as Director and Executive
Chairman of the Board while Mr. Tony
Anton will step down as President and continue as Director
and Executive Advisor. Mr. Arrata and Mr. Anton will continue to
provide assistance where needed, particularly in Egypt and the Capital markets where their
relationships proved to be a key asset in growing successful
international oil and gas companies.
Mr. Paul Welch is
an international energy executive with 26 years of experience in
the acquisition, development and production of oil and gas fields
in North America and overseas. Mr.
Welch graduated from the Colorado School of
Mines with both a Bachelor and Master's degrees in Petroleum
Engineering. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Mr. Welch has extensive oil and gas industry
experience having worked for Shell Oil Company and several large
independents including Hunt Oil Company, Pioneer Natural Resources
and most recently as CEO of Chariot Oil and Gas, the African
focused explorer. While at Shell, Paul acquired invaluable
technical and managerial experience in evaluating global new
business opportunities, acquisition of new exploration concessions
and monetization of non-core assets. Paul's tenure with Hunt Oil
gave him exposure to a wide variety of opportunities worldwide
culminating in the acquisition of new concessions in West Africa, South
America and the Middle
East. With Pioneer, Paul managed the company's producing
assets in Tunisia increasing gross
production from 1,500 bopd to in excess of 25,000 bopd, prior to
the successful sale of the assets to OMV. Paul joined Chariot
as CEO in 2009 and was successful in raising some $190 MM of new equity and negotiating two
farmouts with Major oil companies (BP and Petrobras) in order to
finance the drilling of two deep water exploration wells in
Namibia and expanding the
company's presence into Morocco
and Mauritania.
Paul will drive the Company's growth strategy in
its focus regions of Africa and
the Middle East and its Investor
Relations activities. Building upon the Company successful efforts
over the past year in almost doubling production while also adding
new exploration leads to the Egyptian portfolio that are currently
being upgraded to drillable prospects. The Company has also
significantly improved its financial position by reducing Account
Receivables, decreasing both capex and opex spend and strengthened
its banking relationships.
Said Arrata, Chairman, commented:
"I am very pleased to welcome Paul to the
Company and look forward to working together with him and the rest
of the team to grow our production and asset base across
Africa. Paul brings a wealth of
experience to Sea Dragon, with significant operational, business
development, acquisition, and commercial experience. He also has a
strong background in negotiating contract terms, winning concession
bids and raising equity finance.
I also want to thank Tony Anton for all his hard work and effort
during his time with the Company. Under his leadership the
Company continued to grow its business throughout the recent
difficult period, achieving its highest production levels to date
in excess of 1900boepd. I am confident that Tony's past
contributions will continue to pay dividends in the future. I
am also delighted that Tony will continue to provide his
considerable experience to the Company in the future in his new
role as Director and Executive Advisor."
Sea Dragon is an international exploration and
development oil company with a focus on the Middle East and Africa with offices in Cairo, Paris
and Calgary. For further
information please see the Company website at
www.seadragonenergy.com or the Company's filed documents at
www.sedar.com.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS
REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE
POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR
THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE RELEASE.
SOURCE Sea Dragon Energy Inc.