Corporate Overview

Mr Kroupeev has 25 years’ experience working within the exploration and production sector. After University in Moscow and MBA at London Business School, he began his career working for Dana Petroleum plc as a Director in 1994. In 1995, Mr Kroupeev founded Waterford Finance and Investment Limited (“Waterford”). Waterford is a natural resources focused vehicle, specialising in the financing of oil, gas and other energy related projects.

He has been directly involved in the capital raising for natural resource projects and in acquiring, restructuring, developing and divesting such assets. Waterford has a number of substantial shareholdings in oil and gas companies with operations in Europe, Africa, Australasia and Former Soviet Union countries, and holds a 38.16 per cent. interest in the Company. He was appointed a Director of Gulfsands in October 2016.

John Bell is a Chartered Engineer with over 30 years experience in the energy sector having worked at Vice President or Managing Director level at BP, Equinor AS and Suncor Energy (Syria).

He has spent a large part of his career in the Middle East, as well as time in North Africa, FSU, the Americas, the UK North Sea, Scandinavia & the Caribbean. Mr Bell has a First Class Honours Degree in Engineering from Strathclyde University in Scotland and studied Executive Leadership at Haas Business School, University of Berkeley California. Previous public company directorships include Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Tethys Petroleum where he was Executive Chairman and Aminex where he was Non Executive Chairman. He was appointed as a Non Executive Director of Gulfsands in 2014 and then appointed Managing Director in 2016.

Mr Morris has extensive international business experience and advises and sits on the boards of companies, ranging from early stage resource companies to emerging technology companies. He was founder of Persistency Capital, where he acted as both investor in, and adviser to, companies across a broad range of sectors and geographies. Previous directorships include Madagascar Oil Limited, Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd, SouthWest Energy Ltd, Kriisa Research Inc. and Direct Petroleum Exploration Inc. as well as Blake Oil and Gas Limited and various related parties. Previously, Mr Morris served as a director of Ernst & Young, where he advised a broad range of organisations on enterprise risk management including corporate governance, management reporting, financial control, operational risk and process improvement. Mr Morris holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Mathematics from Bristol University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Mr Morris joined the Board of Gulfsands in April 2015 and became Finance Director in July 2016.

Joe Darby, has over 40 years of experience in the energy sector, including eight years with Shell Petroleum before becoming managing director of Thomson North Sea Ltd and later the Chief Executive of LASMO plc.

He has held non-executive roles at British Nuclear Fuels plc, Mowlem plc, Centurion Energy Inc and Alkane Energy plc. Mr Darby was previously chairman of Mowlem plc (2005) and Faroe Petroleum plc (2003). Mr Darby was appointed a Director of Gulfsands in November 2012 and was more recently a Non-Executive Director of Premier Oil and Bowleven Plc.

James Ede-Golightly joined Gulfsands as a Director in February 2025.

Mr. Ede-Golightly is currently Chairman of Oxehealth Ltd, Oxeco Ltd and ORA Global Ltd. Among other directorships, he is also Non-Executive Director of Sarossa plc. He was a founder of ORA Capital Partners in 2006, having previously worked as an analyst at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Commerzbank.

Mr. Ede-Golightly is a CFA Charterholder and holds an M.A. degree in economics from Cambridge University. In 2012, he was awarded New Chartered Director of the Year by the Institute of Directors.