Board and Management

David Thomas was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in October 2016. He is currently Chair of the Board and interim Senior Independent Director.

David is an experienced oil and gas professional with 40 years in the industry. He started his career as a petroleum engineer working for Conoco in the North Sea and Dubai, before moving into various reservoir engineering and asset management roles. Subsequently, he joined Lasmo where he became the Group GM Operations and, following the company’s acquisition, held three regional Vice President roles with Eni covering the North Sea, Russia/Asia/Australia and West Africa portfolios. David’s Board directorships have included positions as President and COO of Centurion Energy and CEO of Melrose Resources. In mid-2015 he briefly served on a caretaker Board at Afren and is currently the CEO of Cheiron in Egypt.

David has a BSc in Mining Engineering from Nottingham University and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College.

Jon Harris joined Gulf Keystone in January 2021 as Chief Executive Officer.

Jon has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and joins GKP from SASOL Limited, an integrated energy and chemicals company based in South Africa where he was Executive Vice President, Upstream.  Prior to this, he spent 25 years with BG Group in various international roles, including Executive Vice President Technical and General Manager Production Operations, as well as senior management assignments in the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Egypt.

Jon received a Master of Engineering in Fuel and Energy (with distinction) from the University of Leeds, UK. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of PetroTal Corp.

Gabriel Papineau-Legris joined Gulf Keystone in September 2016 and was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in June 2024.

He has over fifteen years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to his appointment at Gulf Keystone, Gabriel worked in private equity at Lime Rock Partners, where he was involved in investigating and executing E&P and oilfield services investment opportunities internationally as well as monitoring portfolio companies. Gabriel began his career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, advising oil majors, E&P companies and governments on M&A and restructuring transactions, and capital markets financing.

Gabriel graduated from HEC Montréal (BBA) and EDHEC Business School (MSc). He is also a CFA charterholder.

Wanda Mwaura was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in July 2022.

Wanda has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services sector with extensive experience in both executive and non-executive roles, including Audit Committee membership. She is a qualified accountant and was previously a partner in Ernst & Young (Bermuda) and the Chief Accounting Officer at PartnerRe. Wanda is now a non-executive director of International General Insurance Company Limited and a number of private companies including Clarien Bank Limited as well as Executive Director for the Bermuda Public Accountability Board.

Wanda has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, and is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda, where she resides.

Marianne Daryabegui was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in October 2024.

Marianne is an experienced capital markets adviser who has focused on oil and gas throughout her career, firstly in-house at Total, then in the banking sector at BNP Paribas and Natixis, where she advised multiple oil and gas companies. At Natixis, Marianne co-led the M&A Energy and Natural Resources practice. She was also formerly Head of Natural Resources at BNP Paribas. In 2021, Marianne was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Lithium de France and is currently Head of M&A and capital market operations at the Arverne Group. Marianne is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of EnQuest plc and was previously a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Pharos plc.

Catherine Krajicek was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in October 2024.

Catherine started her career with Conoco as an associate engineer and remained with the company for a total of 22 years progressing through a variety of oil and gas technical and subsequently asset management roles in both the US and Indonesia. In 2007, Catherine left ConocoPhillips and joined Marathon Oil where she went on to hold a number of senior executive roles before retiring from Marathon in 2018. From July 2019 to June 2023 she served as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Cairn Energy plc. Catherine holds a BSc and MSc in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.

Julien Balkany was appointed as a non-independent Non-Executive Director representing funds managed by Lansdowne Partners Austria GmbH in July 2023.

Julien has extensive experience as an investor and board member in the international oil & gas industry. He is currently Managing Partner of Nanes-Balkany Partners, a group of investment funds that focuses on the oil & gas industry, which he co-founded in 2007. Since 2014, he has been Chairman of the Norwegian oil & gas exploration and production company Panoro Energy ASA. He has also been Non-Executive Director of several other private and publicly listed oil & gas companies including Norwegian Energy Company (Noreco), Gasfrac Energy Services, Toreador Resources, and Amromco Energy.

Julien began his career as an oil & gas investment banker and studied at the Institute of Political Studies (Strasbourg) and at UC Berkeley.

Jon Harris joined Gulf Keystone in January 2021 as Chief Executive Officer.

Jon has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and joins GKP from SASOL Limited, an integrated energy and chemicals company based in South Africa where he was Executive Vice President, Upstream.  Prior to this, he spent 25 years with BG Group in various international roles, including Executive Vice President Technical and General Manager Production Operations, as well as senior management assignments in the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Egypt.

Jon received a Master of Engineering in Fuel and Energy (with distinction) from the University of Leeds, UK. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of PetroTal Corp.

Gabriel Papineau-Legris joined Gulf Keystone in September 2016 and was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in June 2024.

He has over fifteen years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to his appointment at Gulf Keystone, Gabriel worked in private equity at Lime Rock Partners, where he was involved in investigating and executing E&P and oilfield services investment opportunities internationally as well as monitoring portfolio companies. Gabriel began his career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, advising oil majors, E&P companies and governments on M&A and restructuring transactions, and capital markets financing.

Gabriel graduated from HEC Montréal (BBA) and EDHEC Business School (MSc). He is also a CFA charterholder.

John Hulme joined Gulf Keystone in April 2022 as Chief Operating Officer.

John has over 30 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry and joins GKP from Noreco where he was Chief Operating Officer focused on the Danish offshore oil and gas fields.  Prior to this, he held senior management and technical roles with Sapura Energy, Newfield Exploration, Santos, Anadarko Petroleum and ExxonMobil in locations including Algeria, Malaysia, China, Australia, USA and UK.

John received a Master of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines in the USA.

Clare Kinahan joined Gulf Keystone as Chief HR Officer in August 2021.

Clare has over 30 years’ experience in the Engineering and Construction industry, undertaking a range of senior leadership roles with Halliburton, KBR and McDermott. She has broad experience in both strategic and operational HR across Europe, Middle East, Africa and USA.

Clare has a BA Hons in French from University of Reading and is a Chartered Member of CIPD.

Alasdair Robinson joined Gulf Keystone as Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary in June 2017.

After qualifying as a solicitor, Alasdair worked in investment banking for over ten years. In 2007, he joined Melrose Resources as Corporate Finance Manager and Company Secretary and became General Counsel and Company Secretary of the enlarged group upon its acquisition by Petroceltic International. Before joining Gulf Keystone, Alasdair worked for a fund management group as Finance Director and Head of Legal and Risk.

Alasdair is a law graduate of Aberdeen University and has an MBA from Strathclyde Business School. He is a member of the London Stock Exchange Regional Advisory Group.

Ross Deutscher joined Gulf Keystone as Country Manager in January 2019.

Prior to his GKPI assignment he successfully served over eight years in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in senior leadership roles with Talisman Energy and Repsol, most recently as director accountable for the safe development of all operations and strategic leadership.

Ross has over 35 years’ experience in the exploration for new oil and gas fields, as well as the development of producing fields, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, western Canada and USA, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, UK and Dutch North Sea, Algeria and Spain.

Prior to Talisman and Repsol, Ross acquired oil and gas experience at Suncor, Vista Energy, Wascana Energy and Saskoil. He holds a BSc in Geological Engineering (Geophysics Option) from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Patrick Bersebach initially joined Gulf Keystone in 2013 as HSE Supervisor during the construction of PF-2 and was appointed to be the HSE Manager in 2016 and the Head of HSE and Sustainability in 2021.

Before joining Gulf Keystone, Patrick gained international experience when working for RWE Dea, Wintershall, EON E&P and Nord Stream in Europe, Libya, Algeria and Russia. Patrick’s HSE experience embraces all areas of the E&P business from seismic via drilling to production in several roles on the shop floor as well as in management.

Patrick holds an Engineering Diploma in Safety Engineering (Dipl.-Ing. / MEng. Equivalent) from Wuppertal University in Germany and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris, a Vocational Qualification as Occupational Health and Safety Officer and gained a Qualification Certificate as Gas Processing Operator from SAIT in Canada.

Aaron Clark joined Gulf Keystone as Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications in March 2021. He has over 10 years’ experience in investor relations and financial communications, specialising in the energy sector. Prior to Gulf Keystone, Aaron worked at Petrofac as Investor Relations & Communications Manager, following over six years at two financial communications firms, Finsbury and Tulchan Communications, where he advised international clients from a range of industries, including oil & gas.

Aaron holds a BA in French and Italian from University College London and is a CFA charterholder.

Mark Parsley joined Gulf Keystone as Subsurface Manager in June 2018.

Mark has more than 20 years’ experience in various subsurface roles in ARCO, Hess and Tullow. Mark has performed roles as a Reservoir Engineer, Economist, Production Engineer, Production Planner, Subsurface Team Leader, Reserves Manager, and Subsurface Manager for assets in the North Sea, SE Asia, Algeria, Middle East, West Africa, and the USA.

Mark graduated from Oxford University in Geology and has an MSc in Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College.

As Drilling Manager, Jon has managed all Shaikan well activities for Gulf Keystone since 2017 including the drilling of new wells and all well interventions and well servicing.

He has over 35 years of international oil and gas industry experience in drilling, completions, well testing and drilling rig construction in both technical and management positions.  Prior to Gulf Keystone, some highlights of Jon’s career include two major onshore oil and gas developments in Algeria for BHP, a multi-well subsea development in Australia for Woodside and two deep water exploration campaigns in the Falkland Islands for Borders & Southern, Premier and Noble Energy.

Jon graduated from Loughborough University with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer.

Maximiliano Tamola joined Gulf Keystone as IT Manager in May 2019.

He has over 16 years’ of experience in the oil and gas industry, starting his career at YPF (Argentina) and moving to Repsol operations internationally. He was also a secondee in Akakus Oil operations in Libya. Maximiliano has led international IT projects in a variety of environments such as desert operations, deep-water drilling, Siberian fields, and countries in remote or high-risk areas. Prior to his appointment at Gulf Keystone, he was the Regional EMEA & International IT Services Manager at Repsol. He also has expertise in cybersecurity and digital transformation.

Maximiliano has an MBA in Management Information Systems from USAL and The State University of New York.