Empire Oil & Gas has appointed an independent chief executive to lead the business following a board overhaul last year which claimed the scalps of each of its former directors.
Empire Oil & Gas has appointed an independent chief executive to lead the business following a board overhaul last year which claimed the scalps of each of its former directors.
The oil and gas producer has named experienced petroleum executive Ken Aitken as its new chief executive, in line with a pledge by the company's new board of directors upon taking control of the company late last year.
Mr Aitken is general manager, operations and engineering, at listed oil and gas producer New Standard Energy and has previously held senior roles with Origin Energy, Mitsui, and Enterprise Oil.
His three-year contract includes an annual salary of $430,000, including superannuation.
Mr Aitken will also be awarded 90 million Empire options, exercisable in three tranches at 2 cents, 3.5 cents and 7 cents respectively, subject to shareholder approval.
Empire chairman Tony Iannello said Mr Aitken had a strong commercial and management background with deep experience in the oil and gas sector.
"Ken's operational knowledge will be invaluable to Empire as we seek to maximise the production performance of the Red Gully project," Mr Iannello said.
"His exploration and commercial experience will also be vital as he drives Empire's strategy to unlock the value of its assets in the Perth Basin, where he has worked extensively."
Mr Aitken is expected to start work at Empire in May.
Empire meanwhile announced it has withdrawn from a joint venture exploration permit in the Perth Basin after conducting a review of its tenements.
The company said it would save $600,000 in capital expenditure as a result of not having to fund its share of the Dunnart-2 exploration well in the EP 437 permit, which it was exploring alongside joint venture partners Key Petroleum and Caracal Exploration.
Empire is continuing to review its operations after its new directors admitted earlier this month that the company's financial position was worse than originally anticipated.
An initial high-level company review conducted in December last year revealed Empire's corporate costs were too high, its operational costs were higher than expected, and its overall financial position required "significantly more strengthening" than had been anticipated.
Monthly revenue from condensate sales to BP from its flagship Red Gully oil and gas project is currently Empire's sole source of income and is being used to meet its share of operating costs and provisional royalty payments.
Empire also supplies gas to Alcoa of Australia from Red Gully, but Alcoa has already paid for its first tranche of gas supply from the project.
The company's shares closed 12.5 per cent higher at 0.9 cents.
