A senior geophysicist credited with the discovery of four major commercial natural gas projects in Egypt has been appointed to a senior role with oil and gas explorer, Central Petroleum Limited, as the Company prepares to step up its hunt for hydrocarbons in Australia’s Red Centre.

Mr Stewart Bayford will become Central’s new Exploration Manager at a time the Company is among other things, preparing to roll out an expanded exploration program in Coal Seam Gas, two active petroleum systems in the Pedrika Basin, about 340 kilometres southeast of Alice Springs and very large gas, condensate, oil and Helium prospects in the neighbouring Amadeus Basin.

Mr Bayford, 57, has more than three decades of exploration and management experience in the oil and gas industry, including 13 years overseas experience in the UK, Egypt, the US, New Zealand and Nigeria, working for companies as diverse as ENI, Petrocorp, Agip and Conoco.

In his most recent posting, as the Cairo-based Team Manager of Centurion Petroleum, Mr Bayford was credited with four new onshore natural gas discoveries from back-to-back wells in the Nile Delta, ranging in size from 20 – 200 billion cubic feet of gas.

“Considering the advancing status of our diversified energy and Helium exploration projects in the Northern Territory and Queensland, Mr Bayford’s experience in all areas of oil and gas exploration, seismic interpretation, supervision of drilling wells and the management and mentoring of large multi-disciplinary exploration teams, comes at a critical step-up point in our growth objectives,” Central Petroleum’s Managing Director, Mr John Heugh, said today. “Mr Bayford not only has considerable management experience, he has very well developed skills in seismic interpretation and mapping as well as petroleum geology.”

Mr Bayford’s appointment is the second senior management addition to the Company in a week – Central earlier appointing Mr Timothy Green as its Drilling, Operations and Production Manager. “With a relatively depressed employment market prevailing, now is the right time to get the best people available” added Mr Heugh, “Such counter cyclical strategies have paid dividends for us in the past and will in the future. Together with the acknowledged guru of Northern Territory geology , Mr Greg Ambrose, Manager-Geology, and Jason Storey, the ex-Interoil Senior Geophysicist accredited with significant recent discovery in New Guinea, the Company now boasts a formidable team of explorationists”

Tags: Central Petroleum Limited