Leadership

Mr. Bates served as Vice President and Shareholder Business Manager of BP Russia, leading BP’s operations and business development efforts with Rosneft. He oversaw Sakhalin exploration activities and advanced BP’s efforts to acquire exploration licenses in the Russian Arctic.

From 2005 – 2007, Mr. Bates served in TNK-BP as Performance Unit Leader and Director of TNK-BP’s first major greenfield project. Mr. Bates was previously founding Director of Trinity Energy Ltd., an oil & gas independent where he negotiated and executed Uzbekistan’s first production sharing agreement, operated oil and gas fields in Uzbekistan and Russia and marketed refined petroleum products in the region. He has also worked in the oil services sector with Baker Hughes and EVI-Weatherford, where he implemented a variety of performance contracting projects in FSU and South American markets.

Mr. Bates received his BA in Economics (Magna Cum Laude) from Texas A&M University in 1989.

Prior to joining Nobel Upstream, Mr. Gasimov worked for BP for over 16 years. Most recently, he was a member of BP’s regional leadership team in Azerbaijan where he was Head of Business Development and Commercial Operations for the ACG (Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli) oil field. He was responsible for commercial management of the BP-operated ACG joint venture with several major international oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Statoil, and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).

During his tenure at BP, Mr. Gasimov also served as Head of Finance for Offshore Operations and Exploration and held other management roles in the areas of M&A, strategy, planning, performance management and corporate risk management.

Mr. Gasimov earned his BA and MA in International Economic Relations from the Azerbaijan State Economic University. He is an Associate Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) as a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and is a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), also recognized by AICPA.

In 2009, Mr. Gasimov was awarded the Tereqqi (“Progress”) Medal of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the President of Azerbaijan for his contributions to the development of the Oil and Gas Industry.

Mr. Pogson was Commercial Director of Endeavour Energy UK from 2010 through 2012, responsible for commercial management of the company’s UK North Sea exploration, production and development portfolio. In addition to commercial management of Endeavour’s existing asset portfolio, Mr. Pogson was also accountable for the negotiation of new asset acquisitions in the UK North Sea.

From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Pogson held several commercial and business development positions with TNK-BP and BP Russia in Moscow including the role of Commercial Director for RUSIA Petroleum, a TNK-BP subsidiary negotiating with Gazprom, CNCP and KOGAS to develop one of the world’s largest natural gas fields. In BP Russia he provided expert commercial advice to the BP/ Rosneft JV exploration activity in Sakhalin and the Russian Arctic.

Mr. Pogson has a BSc in Applied Chemistry from Brunel University in London.

At Harvest Natural Resources Mr. Harries was responsible for leading the subsurface team for the company’s worldwide exploration, production and new business activities.  His portfolio included heavy oil production in Venezuela, unconventional production and development in Utah, onshore oil and gas production in West Siberia and exploration and appraisal in offshore Gabon. Prior to his 12 years with Harvest, Mr. Harries held senior technical subsurface roles with British Borneo, Hardy Oil and Gas and BHP Petroleum.

Since 2014 Mr. Harries has consulted a number of companies on a variety of projects ranging from reservoir studies and technical advice to execution of technical due diligence in relation to asset acquisitions. Mr. Harries holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College, London and a BA Hons in Engineering Science from Oxford University.

Mr. Huck has wide experience of creating and developing New Business strategies, identifying opportunities, evaluating and capturing deals that have culminated in the discovery of hydrocarbons in the US, UK, Gabon, Angola, Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia. Ian has previously held management positions with Harvest Natural Resources (Vice President Exploration), Premier Oil (Exploration & New Ventures Manager, West Africa), Odebrecht Oil & Gas (Exploration Manager), and senior technical subsurface roles with British Borneo Oil & Gas, LASMO, Texas Eastern, Tenneco and Britoil.

Since 2014 Mr. Huck has consulted to a number of companies on a variety of projects ranging from field developments through to deep-water exploration and has provided Business Development, technical and commercial advice in relation to asset acquisitions and valuations. Mr. Huck holds an MSc in Petroleum Geology with Exploration Geophysics from Imperial College, London and a BSc in Geophysics with Geology from the University of Liverpool.

Mr. Williams provides integrated reservoir management evaluations from the subsurface through the sales meter.  He is experienced in field evaluations in all major producing basins of the United States and selected areas of Africa and South America. His U.S. experience includes unconventional oil and gas plays such as the Bakken, Marcellus, Eagle Ford and the Permian Basin.

Mr. Williams holds a B.S. in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Holder of 7 active patents and primary author of 30 articles and papers in technology as well as business and marketing-based publications, Mr. Lehman has consulted on all the fossil fuel-bearing continents. His resume includes time with Halliburton Energy Services and Pinnacle Technologies.

Mr. Lehman's past and current client base is active in the Middle East, Columbia, Argentina, Brazil, Algeria, Pakistan, Alaska's Cook Inlet, the US Mid-Continent, Poland, New Zealand, Western Australia, the Utica and the Permian Basin of the USA. 

Mr. Lehman holds a B.S. in Chemistry (Qualified Program) from the University of Oklahoma.

Mr. Hogg worked on development and exploration prospects in the North Sea. He was appointed as a Head of the Drilling Technology Group and led a team of engineering specialists supporting global operations. Later he became responsible for the development of extended reach drilling solutions in the UK and led the relief well design engineering team for the Lan Tay blowout in Vietnam. 

Mr. Hogg worked on the Florenia exploration and appraisal acreage after completing an assignment in Columbia. He was also involved in the later stages of the In-Salah Gas JV exploration drilling and led successful planning and delivery of the exploration and development drilling programme for the In-Amenas JV Well in Algeria.

Following that Mr. Hogg was seconded to the Rosneft /BP Sakhalin JV project for the start of operations to lead all the offshore exploration drilling and support activities. Thereafter, he conducted the JV exploration drilling planning process for the Arctic South Kara Sea, offshore Russia.

More recently Mr. Hogg was seconded into Reliance Industries E&P to influence strategic and tactical drilling decisions. On completion, he transferred to BP Exploration, joining the JV oversight team from where he chose to retire from BP in 2015.

Mr. Hogg holds a BSc in Mining Engineering from Strathclyde University.

Prior to joining Nobel Upstream, Mr. Everest worked for BP for over twenty years. During his tenure there, he served in a number of roles, most recently as Director of Coaching for BP Exploration and as Director of Coaching and Safety Performance Improvement for the BP Group. He developed programs that formed the basis for the Company Operating Management System and the Control of Work programme. He has also held management roles in HSE, Offshore Installation and HSE Staff Development in locations around the globe.

Mr. Everest holds a BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Aston in Birmingham.  He is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.