ST. PETER PORT, GUERNSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS, Aug 24, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Tethys Petroleum Limited (“Tethys” or the “Company”) (TSX: TPL) today announced changes to its Board of Directors, these changes becoming effective on September 1, 2009.
Colin Smith, currently non-executive director and Chairman of the Company’s Audit Committee, will step down due to other business commitments and be replaced as non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee by Marcus Rhodes.
Paul Murphy, currently non-executive director, will step down due to other business commitments and be replaced as non-executive director by James Rawls.
The appointment of the new directors is subject to acceptance by the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Dr David Robson, Chairman of Tethys said, “On behalf of myself and the Board I would like to thank Colin and Paul for all their hard work and commitment to the Company since before flotation, and wish them well with their other activities which I know are taking up a considerable amount of their time. I have really appreciated their insight and contribution to Tethys over the past three years. I welcome Marcus and James to our Board. They bring with them excellent skills and experience which I believe will complement the strengths of our other Board members and help provide further guidance in moving the Company forward at this exciting time.”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE NEW DIRECTORS
MARCUS RHODES (48) is a Chartered Accountant and experienced auditor. He spent some 17 years working in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, most recently as an Audit Partner with Ernst & Young in their Moscow office.
Marcus has worked with a wide variety of clients in many industry sectors including retail and consumer products, paper and pulp, pharmaceuticals, hotels, iron & steel manufacture, aluminium manufacture and mining, as Audit Partner, Head of the Audit Practice, Head of Retail and Consumer Products and Advisory Partner in respect of structural and reporting issues relating to audit committees. He was also the Partner responsible for establishing the Arthur Andersen practice in Uzbekistan and has worked on and been responsible Audit Partner on a number of Russian related IPO’s and advised on Eurobond and Russian bond issues. Marcus is currently an independent consultant and also serves as Head of the Audit Committee and non-executive director for three leading Russian companies in the food, beverage and restaurant sectors, these companies being listed on the New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange and the Russian Stock Exchange.
He holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Economics and Economic History from the Loughborough University (England), and is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales.
JAMES RAWLS (57) is a registered Petroleum Engineer with over 35 years industry experience in engineering and finance; he is currently the owner and manager of Rawls Resources, Inc., a private oil and gas exploration company.
James worked for Exxon Company USA in onshore and offshore development as a Senior Project Engineer, and later went on to a successful 12 year career in banking as Manager of the Energy Lending Department of Deposit Guarantee National Bank. In the early 1990’s, he moved back into oil and gas exploration as president of Hughes-Rawls Corporation. Since that time, both in association with others as well as in entities owned individually, Mr. Rawls, has been involved in drilling oil and gas wells both onshore and offshore, in the United States and elsewhere. He is currently involved both in exploration and private investments.
James serves or has served on the public company boards of Redcliffe Exploration Inc., Harcor Energy Inc., Tikal Resources Corporation, and Aquest Energy, Ltd. as well as on the boards of numerous private companies, professional and philanthropic organizations.
He holds a BS degree (distinction) in Petroleum Engineering from Mississippi State University and was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Bagwell School of Engineering in 2007.
Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia with activities currently in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. See our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2008 and other filings for a description of risks and uncertainties relevant to our business, including our exploration and development activities.
Contacts:
Tethys Petroleum Limited
Sabin Rossi
Vice President Investor Relations
+1-416-572-2065
+1-416-572-2201 (FAX)
Email: info@tethyspetroleum.com
Website: www.tethyspetroleum.com
In Kazakhstan:
PG Communications
Ardak Akanov, Managing Director
Office phone/fax: +7 (727) 272 8867
Email: development@pressclub.kz
SOURCE: Tethys Petroleum Limited
mailto:info@tethyspetroleum.com
http://www.tethyspetroleum.com
mailto:development@pressclub.kz