Summary
Appointment of Chief Executive and Managing Director
APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND MANAGING DIRECTOR
The Board of Directors of Santos Limited is pleased to announce the immediate appointment of Mr John Ellice-Flint as the Companys Chief Executive Officer and as Managing Director with effect from the date of the Companys next Board Meeting on 19th December 2000.
Mr Ellice-Flint is 49, an Australian, originally from Northern New South Wales, who has gained 26 years of experience in the oil and gas industry around the world with Unocal where he occupied several senior positions and most recently that of Senior Vice President of Global Exploration and Technology. He then had responsibility for leveraging Unocals global exploration portfolio which has an annual capital expenditure of approximately US$600 million. He had previously in 1996 assumed the post of Vice President Corporate Planning and Economics where he led the implementation of value-based management.
In 1994, Mr Ellice-Flint was appointed Vice President and General Manager of Unocals production and exploration activities in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, and was responsible for leading the transformation of a mature business unit into one of Unocals main growth engines. During this assignment, major breakthroughs were made in leading-edge drilling and exploitation technologies, Unocals Indonesian deepwater strategy was put in place and acreage was doubled as a result.
Between 1992 and 1994 he was Group Exploration Manager for Europe, the former Soviet Union, Central Asia and the Middle East.
In 1984, he became Exploration Manager for Unocals North Sea operations based in the U.K. and in 1989, Regional Exploration Manager for Unocals Texas/South Eastern region in the Gulf of Mexico.
Prior to this he had a number of exploration and production assignments in Thailand, Japan, Bangladesh, and Norway, focusing on exploration prospect generation, evaluation, appraisal and development.
The Chairman said Mr John Ellice-Flint brings to the Company an ideal combination of oil and gas operating experience, commercial, exploration and production experience gained through working in the major petroleum basins of the world. He not only has an excellent track record of finding oil and gas he also has very strong performance orientation and a clear focus and commitment to the building of shareholder value.
The Board is pleased to have obtained the services of someone as qualified as Mr Ellice-Flint to lead the Companys management forward. To obtain his services it has been necessary for the Company to issue 1 million ordinary shares in Santos credited as fully paid up at no cost to him to be held by a trustee and under ordinary circumstances will not vest for a period of 5 years. In addition Mr Ellice-Flint will be issued 3 million option under the Santos Executive Share Option Plan in 3 separate tranches of 1 million subject to hurdle conditions and exercisable for up to 10 years. The hurdle conditions are similar to those previously approved by shareholders in other cases.
Born in Sydney, Mr Ellice-Flint holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honours from the University of New England and also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He and his Australian wife, Catherine, and their 3 children currently live in California.
With Santos, itself ready to embark on a new phase of its own development and growth, Mr Ellice-Flint will bring not only his leadership and motivational skills but also a unique accumulation of global experience encompassing technical, operational and commercial aspects of the oil and gas industry.
