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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 Chairman of the private Norwegian mining company Polar Transition Minerals AS, and Non-Executive Director of the London listed independent oil company Gulf Keystone Petroleum. Julien was previously a Non-Executive Director of several private and publicly listed oil & gas companies including Norwegian Energy Company (Noreco – BlueNord), Gasfrac Energy Services, Toreador Resources, and Amromco Energy. 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, who serves as the Company’s Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Sanness has served as a Board Member since 2015 and has extensive experience and technical expertise in the oil and gas industry. Mr. Sanness became the Chairman of Lundin Norway in April 2015. Prior to this position Mr. Sanness was Managing Director of Lundin Petroleum Norway from 2004 to 2015. Under his leadership Lundin Norway was turned into one of the most successful players on the ECS 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 discoveries of Alvheim, Volund and others. From 1975 to 2000, Mr. Sanness was at Saga Petroleum until the sale to Norsk Hydro and Statoil, where he held several executive positions in Norway as well as in the US. Currently Mr. Sanness is serving as Executive Chairman of Magnora ASA with a renewable energy strategy in solar and wind,on the Board of Aquila Holding ASA with holdings in renewables and seismic, and Chairman of the board of Concedo/Attica, a private E&P company with focus on the Norwegian continental shelf. Mr. Sanness is a graduate of the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Engineering (geology, geophysics and mining engineering).
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 44 years of global experience in the energy industry, currently serving as an Independent director for Tortoise, CEFs, based in Kansas, Tethys Oil based in Sweden, the nomination committee for PGS, based in Norway, as well as Panoro Energy ASA. Her most recent leadership experience was as 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.
Mrs Gunvor Ellingsen
Non Executive Director
Mrs. Ellingsen is a Norwegian Citizen residing in London. She spent 20 years of her career in oil and gas investment banking before moving to the industry. In her current role, Mrs. Ellingsen leads corporate M&A at Shell International. Previously she has worked for HVB Group, Waterous & Co., Scotia Bank, BNP Paribas and Lambert Energy. Until end of 2022 she was non-executive director for Invest in Africa, a non-profit organisation with focus on creation of employment by training local SMEs. She graduated with a Masters in Petroleum Engineering from Stavanger University and a Masters in Petroleum Economics and Management from the Institut Français du Pétrole.
Mr. Garrett Soden
Non-Executive Director
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 ShaMaran Petroleum Corp. and has been a Non-Executive Director of Panoro Energy ASA since 2015. He holds a BSc honors degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Columbia Business School.