Africa Energy elects new president and CEO

Canadian oil and gas firm Africa Energy, a Lundin Group company, has appointed Garrett Soden as the company’s president and chief executive officer (CEO) effective immediately.

Africa Energy said on Tuesday that Soden would replace James Phillips who decided to retire.

According to the company, Garrett Soden has international corporate development experience as a senior executive and board member of various public companies in the natural resources sector.

He worked for Lundin Group over the last decade and is currently a non-executive director of Etrion Corporation, Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd., Panoro Energy ASA, and Petropavlovsk PLC.

Previously, he was the chairman and CEO of RusForest AB, CFO of Etrion and PetroFalcon and a non-executive director of PA Resources AB.

Before joining Lundin, Soden worked for Lehman Brothers in equity research and for Salomon Brothers in mergers and acquisitions. He was also the Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

Ashley Heppenstall, chairman of Africa Energy, said: “We are thrilled to have Garrett step-up to lead Africa Energy. He is well known in the Lundin Group and has executed for us in challenging roles across several regions and sectors in the past.

“Africa Energy reminds me of the early days of Lundin Petroleum where we created value through high impact exploration acquired at the bottom of the commodity price cycle. It is our intention to build Africa Energy into a material Africa-focused independent oil and gas company. Garrett will help us deliver on that vision.”

Regarding the resignation of James Phillips, Heppenstall added: “The board would like to thank Jim for launching Africa Energy, putting together an exceptional technical team in Cape Town and closing our first transaction offshore South Africa.”