Tap Oil names new executive chairman

Independent oil and gas company Tap Oil has appointed non-executive director James Menzies to the position of executive chairman effective from December 15, 2016.

To remind, Menzies joined the Tap Oil board in May 2016 replacing Mike Sandy as an independent non-executive director.

Tap Oil said on Monday that Menzies would succeed current chairman Doug Bailey, who will retire from the Board on December 15. Bailey has served as Chairman of Tap Oil since 2012 and as a non-executive director since 2009.

Menzies was the founder of Salamander Energy. Following its flotation on the London Stock Exchange, he served as CEO, building the Southeast Asian business until 2015 when it was acquired by Ophir Energy. Salamander’s core businesses were in Malaysia, Indonesia, and in Tap Oil’s core market Thailand.

Before Salamander, Menzies was the Senior Partner in Lambert Energy Advisory, an upstream oil and gas corporate finance advisory business. Other roles include Head of Strategy and Corporate Affairs, including Strategic Planning and IR for Lasmo, a UK-listed independent E&P company, where he began as a geophysicist in the UK North Sea and later in Vietnam and Indonesia.

Menzies said: “The Board of Tap would like to thank Doug for his longstanding contribution and service as Chairman and wish him well in his future endeavors. Doug has worked hard in navigating the company through a challenging period, and I look forward to quickly setting a course with strategy and taking the business forward in 2017.”