The Board of Directors of i3 Energy plc announce the appointment of Majid Shafiq as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He will begin transitioning into the role with immediate effect.
Neill Carson, who co-founded i3 will step down from the CEO role and remain with the Company as a Non-executive Director. The Board and i3 team thank Neill for his tremendous commitment to the Company as one of the North Sea's serial oil and gas entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, i3 has grown from a great idea into an AIM-listed entity with 11 MMBO of 2P Reserves and 69 MMBO of combined 2C Contingent and mid-case Prospective Resources. Neill's background and experience will continue to be invaluable to the Board as the Company converts the Liberator development into a production asset and continues to diversify and grow its portfolio of oil and gas licences.
Majid has been a Non-executive Director of i3 since July 2017 and has a combined 30 years of technical and investment banking experience. He started his career at Mobil Oil Corporation, where he worked for 13 years in various petroleum engineering and commercial roles in the UK and the Netherlands. He has since worked for advisory and investment banking firms focused exclusively on the oil and gas E&P sector, including Waterous and Co, Tristone Capital Limited, FirstEnergy Capital and Àrgentil Capital Partners. Majid holds a Bachelors degree in Nuclear Engineering from Manchester University, a Masters degree in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University and an MBA from London Business School.
Concurrent with the above, John Woods, who has served with the Company as Chief Development Officer since May 2016, will be appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer with immediate effect.
David Knox, Chairman, commented:
"Having worked for some time alongside his fellow directors and the i3 team, the Board is unanimous that Majid has the right skills and experience to take the Company forward. We trust that his unwavering focus on delivery and technically-underpinned background in E&P investment banking will serve our shareholders well.
As a co-founder of i3, Neill has completed the first phase of our growth, capturing the Liberator asset and progressing it towards development and further upside appraisal. Neill's great skill as a portfolio builder will be retained by the Company as he continues to advise his fellow directors and i3 in this regard. I would like to say thank you to Neill, on behalf of the Board, shareholders and staff for his enormous dedication and contribution to i3 since 2014."
Neill Carson, Non-executive Director, commented:
"Founding i3 and seeding it with Liberator, a company making asset, has brought me great satisfaction. I look forward to overseeing i3's next stage of development as a non-executive director and have every confidence in handing it over to a team with the capability to fund, develop and build on its future success."
Majid Shafiq, CEO, commented:
"I am delighted to take on this role, to build on the foundation that Neill and the team have created, and to progress our Liberator and Liberator West development and appraisal programmes. Along with i3's team, I hope to keep up the great momentum we've achieved in 2018 while delivering on the commercial, regulatory, and funding requirements to see Liberator become a success."
I'd also like to congratulate John Woods on his appointment as Chief Operating Officer. I am excited and looking forward to working alongside John and the rest of the i3 team."
Malcy's Blog commentary:
i3 Energy has announced a major management shake-up whereby CEO Neil Carson has stepped down and is replaced in that role by Majid Shafiq who moves from a non-executive role, ‘with immediate effect’. The management changes are in my view certainly needed and credit should be given to the company where it is due, it has realised swiftly that things couldn’t go on in its current shape. The changes seem to be the right course of action for both inbound and outbound CEO and I expect some new momentum to be obvious from the start. Neil Carson stays with the company as an NED but whether that will be for the longer term will be interesting to see.
Recently the share price has taken a proper pounding as the potential loss of its partner in Liberator, whilst not permanent, led to a loss of confidence not helped by management saying only days before, that the company would not need any further funding. In a company with only one operational asset that is an accident waiting to happen and the market is now waiting for some sort of a deal, either being plan A or with a new plan B partner.
I know Majid Shafiq and whilst this is, I think, his first CEO role in an independent oil company it may be the right time for him to test his significant skill and experience in the oil market. He is a very impressive man and I have little doubt that this natural progression to such an executive role will, on a technical basis on Liberator and on a financial basis with partners, financiers and shareholders be rewarding for all those concerned. He is also very lucky that he has CFO Graham Heath to work with as he gets going, I can think of no one better as he settles into the CEO office.