Technical Competence & Experience
Ardent Oil Limited brings with it considerable technical knowledge and competence with regard to hydrocarbon exploration activities.
The founding directors & senior managers Messrs Moore, Moreton & Whitehead each have in excess of 30 years of experience within the UK Oil industry and brief experience summaries are given below.
Some of the team were founders and worked together at Granby Oil and Gas plc, following its successful listing on AIM in 2005.
Granby was a major player in past UKCS licensing rounds, successfully participating in rounds 21, 22, 23 and 24. During this period it generated many new prospects across many basins within the UKCS, adding many million barrels of risked oil equivalent prospective resources to the 'yet to find' hydrocarbon potential of the UK. Granby successfully farmed out a number of its blocks to industry partners who funded the drilling of exploration wells - including the Marquis Prospect in Block 21/6b, the Watling Prospect in block 42/28c and the Guinea Prospect in block 15/13b. They also successfully farmed out the Egdon operated Burton Agnes Prospect (onshore UK, licence PEDL071) to GasPlus Italiana.
Granby Oil was also operator and secured the financing for the development of the Tristan North West gas field development that came on stream in April 2008. This project in the UK Southern North Sea was a sub-sea development using a single horizontal well tied back to the Davy East platform by a new 14km pipeline.
MEET OUR TEAM
Bob Moore
Managing DirectorBob has over 30 years business, commercial and legal experience in the oil and gas industry both in the upstream (exploration and production) sector but also in the oilfield service sector.
He is a UK qualified lawyer (barrister) and after working in private practice moved into the UK oil industry in 1985. He joined Enterprise Oil (a UK FTSE 100 company) in 1990 and became Head of International Legal Affairs working principally on international oil & gas joint ventures and transactions including countries such as Cambodia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Iran, Italy, Russia & Vietnam.
After Enterprise Oil was taken over by Shell In 2002, Bob worked with ex colleagues on identifying moribund projects to be financed and he was instrumental in getting the undeveloped Galoc oil field in the Philippines financed. He then co-founded Granby Oil & Gas plc in 2005 as Commercial Director enabling Granby Oil to acquire an interest in the Galoc field. Granby's principal business was oil & gas exploration within the UK. Bob was also closely involved in the financing of the Tristan North West gas development in the UK Southern North Sea operated by Granby. The company was initially privately financed then listed on the London AIM. It was sold to Silverstone in 2008. Bob then founded Swiftpipe Middle East Ltd in a joint venture with a private US company to market and introduce specialist pipeline installation technology to the Middle East including Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. After the pipeline technology was sold to National Oilwell Varco he co-founded Ardent Oil with some of his previous Granby Oil colleagues acting as Managing Director.
Richard Moreton
Executive DirectorRichard has more than 30 years experience in the oil and gas industry.
Richard is a geophysicist by training and graduated with a BSc (Hons) from Imperial College London University in 1983. Early in his career he worked briefly for Petroleum Geological Analysis, then joined Trafalgar House Oil and Gas, where he worked on geophysical projects both in the UK and internationally. He joined Enterprise Oil in 1988, enjoying a varied career with a wide variety of geotechnical exposure generating prospects and projects in many different basins throughout the world. In 2002 he co-founded and co-directed Granby Enterprises Limited, whose principal business was oil & gas exploration within the UK. Granby subsequently listed on AIM in June 2005. The Company was subsequently purchased in 2008 by Silverstone Energy Limited.
In 2008 Richard co-founded and co-directed Bell Exploration Limited, and Goldings Consulting Limited. Bell Exploration built up a small exploration portfolio in the German Molasse Basin, and these assets were subsequently divested to Terrain Energy. Goldings Consulting undertook a small number of targeted projects, both in the UK and internationally for a variety of clients.
Richard also co-founded Bell North Sea Limited, Frequent Oil Limited, and Ardent Oil Limited. Frequent Oil has subsequently been sold and, with the two Bell companies and Goldings effectively dormant, Richard now works full time for Ardent.
Richard has been very active within various oil industry circles throughout his career. He served on the PESGB (Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain) Committee as Director, Newsletter (2 years) and was also the Marketing and Publicity Director for the PETEX international conference and exhibition in 1994. He edited the successful and popular book 'Tales From Early UK Oil Exploration', published to mark the 30th anniversary of the PESGB in 1995.
Martin Whitehead
Executive DirectorMartin has over 30 years' experience in the oil and gas industry.
Martin is a geologist by training and graduated with a BSc (Hons) from Leeds University in 1982 then obtained an MSc from Imperial College London in 1984. In his early career he worked for Robertson Research International and Texaco North Sea Limited.
He joined Enterprise Oil in 1991, becoming Manager of Geological operations before moving to the New Ventures Team monitoring worldwide operations. His experience covers operated and non-operated ventures on all 5 producing continents. He has worked successfully on most technical geological aspects of the oil industry from basin scale exploration through to development projects and producing fields. In 2002 he co-founded and co-directed Granby Enterprises Limited, whose principal business was oil & gas exploration within the UK. Granby subsequently listed on AIM in June 2005. The Company was purchased in 2008 by Silverstone Energy Limited.
In 2008 Martin co-founded and co-directed Bell Exploration Limited, and Goldings Consulting Limited. Bell Exploration built up a small exploration portfolio in the German Molasse Basin, and these assets were subsequently divested to Terrain Energy. Goldings Consulting undertook a small number of targeted projects, both in the UK and internationally for a variety of clients. Martin also co-founded Bell North Sea Limited, Frequent Oil Limited, and Ardent Oil Limited. Frequent Oil has subsequently been sold and, with the two Bell companies and Goldings effectively dormant, Martin now works full time for Ardent Oil.
He has been a Fellow of the Geological Society of London for over 25 years and is a member of the PESGB.