Our Board of Directors
Mr. Julien Balkany
Chairman of the Board
Julien Balkany is a French citizen and a resident in London, who since 2014 has been Chairman of the Norwegian oil & gas exploration and production company Panoro Energy ASA. Alongside this, since 2008, Julian also serves as a Managing Partner of Nanes Balkany Partners, a group of investment funds that focuses on the oil & gas industry. Concomitantly, he is also Non-Executive Director of the private mining company, Pan-African Diamonds Limited. Julien was previously a Non-Executive Director of several private and publicly listed oil & gas companies including Norwegian Energy Company (Noreco), Gasfrac Energy Services, Toreador Resources, and Amromco Energy. He was also on the Board of Sarmin Bauxite Ltd, another private mining company, until its sale to Lindian Resources. Julien started his career as an oil and gas investment banker and studied at the Institute of Political Studies (Strasbourg) and at UC Berkeley.
Mr. Torstein Sanness
Deputy Chairman
Mr. Torstein Sanness is a Norwegian Citizen residing in Norway. He has extensive experience and technical expertise in the oil and gas industry. Mr. Sanness became the Chairman of Lundin Petroleum Norway in April 2015. Prior to this position Mr. Sanness was Managing Director of Lundin Petroleum Norway from 2004 to April 2015. Under his leadership Lundin Norway has turned into one of the most successful players on the NCS and added net discovered resources of close to a billion boe to its portfolio through the discoveries of among others E. Grieg and Johan Sverdrup. Before joining Lundin Norway Mr. Sanness was Managing Director of Det Norske Oljeselskap AS (wholly owned by DNO at the time) and was instrumental in the discoveries of Alvheim, Volund and others. From 1975 to 2000, Mr. Sanness was at Saga Petroleum until its sale to Norsk Hydro and Statoil, where he held several executive positions in Norway as well as in the US, including being responsible for Saga’s international operations and entry into Libya, Angola, Namibia, and Indonesia. Currently, Mr. Sanness is serving as Board member of International Petroleum Corp. (a Ludlin Group E&P company with a portfolio of assets in Canada, Europe and South East Asia), Magnora ASA (a company managing certain royalty rights and licence arrangements) and TGS (the world’s largest geoscience data company). Mr. Sanness is a graduate of the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim where he obtained a Master of Engineering (geology, geophysics and mining engineering). Mr. Sanness is also the Chairman of the Board of Magnora ASA.
Ms. Grace Reksten Skaugen
Non-Executive Director
Ms. Grace Reksten Skaugen is a Norwegian citizen.
She is a board member and co-founder of the Norwegian Institute of Directors. She is non-executive director in several listed companies including the Swedish investment company Investor AB, the tanker company Euronav NV, PJT Partners, a ‘boutique’ US investment bank as well as Lundin Energy where she chairs the Sustainability Committee. She is a Trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. She was deputy chair of Statoil (now Equinor), from 2012 to 2015. She spent several years working in Corporate Finance in the Nordic bank SEB and also held advisory positions in Deutsche Bank and HSBC. Grace is a physicist by education and has a PhD in laser physics from Imperial College in London. She also holds an MBA from BI Norwegian Business School.
Ms. Alexandra Herger
Non-Executive Director
Ms. Alexandra (Alex) Herger, a US citizen based in Maine, has extensive senior leadership and board experience in worldwide exploration and production for international oil and gas companies. Ms. Herger has 40 years of global experience in the energy industry, currently serving as an Independent director for Tortoise Capital Advisors, CEFs, based in Leawood, Kansas, Tethys Oil based in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as Panoro Energy. Her most recent leadership experience was as interim Vice President for Marathon Oil Company until her retirement in July 2014. Prior to this position, Ms. Herger was Director of International Exploration and New Ventures for Marathon Oil Company from 2008 – 2014, where she led five new country entries and was responsible for adding net discovered resources of over 500 million boe to the Marathon portfolio. Ms. Herger was at Shell International and Shell USA from 2002- 2008, holding positions as Exploration Manager for the Gulf of Mexico, Manager of Technical Assurance for the Western Hemisphere, and Global E & P Technical Assurance Consultant. Prior to the Shell / Enterprise Oil acquisition in 2002, Ms. Herger was Vice President of Exploration for the Gulf of Mexico for Enterprise Oil, responsible for the addition of multiple giant deep water discoveries. Earlier, Ms. Herger held positions of increasing responsibility in oil and gas exploration and production, operations, and planning with Hess Corporation and Exxonmobil Corporation. Ms. Herger holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology from Ohio Wesleyan University and post-graduate studies in Geology from the University of Houston. Ms. Herger is a member of Leadership Texas, the foundation for women’s resources, and was on the advisory board of the Women’s Global Leadership Conference in Houston, Texas from 2010 to 2013. Ms. Herger will be serving on the nomination committee for PGS (based in Norway) effective May 2019.
Mr. Garrett Soden
Non-Executive Director
Mr. Garrett Soden has worked with the Lundin Group since 2007 and has extensive experience as a senior executive and board member of various public companies in the natural resources sector. Mr. Soden is currently President and CEO of Africa Energy Corp., a Canadian oil and gas exploration company focused on South Africa. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. Mr. Soden holds a BSc honours degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Mrs. Hilde Ådland
Non-Executive Director
Mrs. Hilde Ådland, a Norwegian citizen, and has extensive technical experience in the oil and gas industry. She has leadership experience in field development, engineering, commissioning, and field operations. Mrs. Ådland held several senior positions in Gas de France/GDF SUEZ/ENGIE/Neptune including Head of Operation and Asset manager for the operated Gjøa field. She also spent 11 years with Statoil (now Equinor) in a number of senior engineering and operational roles, including Offshore Installation Manager at the Kristin field, and 6 years with Kvaerner. She has been active in the Norwegian Oil and Gas association and have in the period from autumn 2015 to spring 2019 also been the chairman of the Operation Committee. She has a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a Master’s degree in process engineering. She is also board member of Magnora ASA.