Gulfsands' vision is to become one of the pre-eminent independent exploration and production companies in the Middle East and North Africa and as a preferred operator and partner. Gulfsands is focused on acquiring and developing significant interests in high impact projects in the Middle East and North Africa.

Andrew West - Non-Executive Chairman

Andrew West (53) a British subject and resident, has been Chairman of Gulfsands since July 2006. An investment banker specialising in mergers and acquisitions by career, he has worked for Smith Barney (1981 - 85), Lehman Brothers (1985 -- 90), Guinness Mahon (1990 -- 97) and from 1997 to 1999 was Managing Director of Strand Partners, a privately owned investment banking firm specialising inter alia in energy and natural resources. For the past twelve years he has run his own consultancy practice. He is currently a non-executive director of or adviser to numerous companies, both public and private, and has had considerable experience as both a financial adviser and a non-executive director in the oil and gas sector.

Richard J. Malcolm - Chief Executive Officer

Richard (Ric) Malcolm is a professional geoscientist with over 29 years of varied oil and gas experience. Ric began his career as a Petroleum Geologist with Woodside in Perth, Australia exploring for oil and gas on the Northwest Shelf. He then spent 10 years with Ampolex Limited (Perth & Sydney) where he served as the Senior Explorationist and Exploration Manager Western Australia & Northern & Eastern Australia. Following three years with Mobil as Manager for Papua New Guinea, he joined the Austrian oil & gas company OMV in 1999. Initially Exploration Manager for Australia and New Zealand, his roles have included Exploration and Reservoir Manager for OMV Libya, General Manager of OMV Norway and finally in 2006 Managing Director for OMV UK. Ric joined Gulfsands as Chief Executive in October 2008.

Mahdi Sajjad - Executive Director and President

Educated in the United Kingdom, Mahdi Sajjad worked from 1981--1988 with a consortium of British companies marketing products and engineering services in the Middle East and Africa. In 1988, he joined International Development Corporation in Dubai as a Senior Executive and later as Managing Director whilst also serving during the same period through to 1995 as a Director of Oil & Minerals Development Corporation. He has also established, as a founder shareholder and financier, a number of companies with interests in the Middle East in different industry sectors but with particular emphasis on the energy and mining sectors. Mahdi joined Gulfsands in 1998.

Andrew Rose - Director and Chief Financial Officer

Andrew Rose was until March 2008 Chief Financial Officer of Burren Energy, the UK independent oil and gas company which he joined in 2001, when it was a private company, and helped to list it on the London Stock Exchange in December 2003 and to build it into one of the UK's most successful mid tier independent oil companies, culminating in its sale to ENI in January 2008. Prior to joining Burren Energy he had spent his career in investment banking, working in advisory, capital markets and structured finance roles, and most recently was head of Corporate Finance for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Societe Generale. He has an MA in Engineering from Cambridge University. Andrew joined Gulfsands as Chief Financial Officer in June 2008.

Kenneth Judge - Director of Corporate Development & Communications

Ken Judge is a corporate lawyer with extensive business management and corporate development experience having held numerous public company directorships and having been engaged in the establishment or corporate development of oil and gas, mining and technology companies in the United Kingdom, Middle East, USA, Australia, Europe, Canada, Latin America and South East Asia. He has undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in Commerce, Jurisprudence and Laws from the University of Western Australia and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 1984.Ken became a Director of Gulfsands in 2006.

David Cowan - Non-Executive Director

David Cowan is a solicitor residing in Vancouver, Canada. He is a partner with McMillan LLP, a national Canadian law firm, and practices primarily in the area of corporate and securities law. He represents numerous publicly traded companies and has previously worked with the British Columbia provincial government, including the British Columbia Securities Commission, where he was involved in the drafting of securities legislation. David is a past Chairman of both the Securities and Natural Resources subsections of the British Columbia branch of the Canadian Bar Association, and the National Natural Resources subsection of the Canadian Bar Association. He has also served as a member of the Securities Policy Advisory Committee to the British Columbia Securities Commission and is a frequent lecturer for the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia. His specific Middle East region experience includes ventures in Syria, Iraq and Algeria. He holds an LLB from the University of British Columbia (1979). David became a Director of Gulfsands in 2006.

Significant Shareholders of Gulfsands Petroleum plc as of January 9, 2012
(3% or more)

(1) Companies associated with Ken Judge

(2) Companies associated with Mahdi Sajjad  

Updated from company website 11/01/12