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Upland Resources Limited (LSE: UPL), the oil and gas company actively building a portfolio of attractive upstream assets, announces that its non-executive chairman, Norza Zakaria, is stepping down from the role following his recent election as President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia.
Norza will have ultimate responsibility for Malaysian participation in both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, a role which will not leave him sufficient time to devote to Upland.
Bolhassan Di, currently one of the non-executive directors of the Company, will replace Norza as non-executive chairman. Bolhassan was previously an elected member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly from 1987 to 2011 and therefore has many years of political and commercial experience within the region. During his long service within the Sarawak State Assembly, Bolhassan held positions as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Assistant Minister in the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Department and subsequently Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Communication.
A graduate of the School of Engineering at Sheffield University, Bolhassan began his career in 1979 at Sarawak Shell Bhd. (a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc) where he gained project planning, design, construction, commissioning and start-up experience in offshore projects. Bolhassan has also has significant oil and gas experience with Shell in South Korea, Singapore, the North Sea and the Netherlands.
Steve Staley, Upland Resources Limited CEO, said:
“On behalf of the board I would like to thank Norza for his very substantial contribution to the success of Upland. We are sorry to see him step down as chairman, but understand that he must devote his time to his new, high profile and demanding role. We are very pleased that Bolhassan has agreed to become our new chairman. His substantial knowledge and experience of the sector will be invaluable to us as progress Sarawak and North Africa and drill the upcoming high impact Wick exploration well.”
| Upland Resources Limited | www.upland.energy |
| Steve Staley, CEO | Tel: 07704 974784 [email protected] |
| Optiva Securities Limited | |
| Jeremy King (Corporate Finance) | Tel: 020 3137 1904 [email protected] |
| Christian Dennis (Corporate Broker) | Tel: 020 3137 1903 [email protected] |
| FTI Consulting | |
| Ben Brewerton/Molly Stewart | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1708 [email protected] |
| Flowcomms Ltd | |
| Sasha Sethi | Tel: +44 (0)7891 677441 [email protected] |
| Notes |
| Upland is an upstream oil & gas company whose highly experienced management team has a track record of creating major value for shareholders in junior oil & gas companies, including Cove Energy plc. The Company has extensive technical and commercial skills and contacts, management having held senior roles in Petronas, Conoco, Shell etc. |