James Willis is an upstream petroleum consultant who has held governance positions with, and consulted to, various participants in the oil and gas exploration sector. Mr Willis was a partner in a New Zealand law firm of Bell Gully where his practice speciality was in the upstream oil and gas area, particularly relating to issues concerning gas contracting and the development of oil & gas reserves, joint ventures, and upstream petroleum related acquisitions. Mr Willis is a director of New Zealand Energy Corp, a company with New Zealand operations and listed on the TSX Venture exchange.