Petrel, Warrego appoint Biggs

David Biggs has been appointed as a non-executive director at Petrel Energy and Warrego Energy, subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting in March.

The EGM was called to approve a proposed reverse takeover bid of Sydney-based Petrel by Scotland-based Warrego Energy.

Mr Biggs most recently served as the managing director of AWE from May 2016 to July last year.

AWE accepted a $602 million takeover bid from Japanese firm Mitsui in February, after rejecting two other bids in the preceding months.

Mitsui sought AWE’s interest in the Waitsia field in the Perth Basin, which is located just 16 kilometres west of Warrego’s proposed West Erregulla-2 well.

Prior to AWE, Mr Biggs was chief executive of Cue Energy for three years and before that he spent almost 20 years with BHP Group, most notably serving as a Vice President.

Mr Biggs holds a law degree from New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington.

Petrel managing director David Casey said the company was pleased that Mr Biggs elected to join the Warrego board at a “very exciting time” for the soon to be merged group.

“While it goes without saying that David’s experience in managing a very similar asset and navigating a successful path to identifying the 5th largest ever onshore gas discovery in Australia will be invaluable, from Petrel’s perspective we were most impressed by his knowledge and enthusiasm for the soon to be drilled West Erregulla prospect, which we believe to be a near identical analogue to AWE’s Waitsia Field,” Mr Casey said.

Warrego’s managing director Dennis Donald said Mr Biggs was a proven chief executive with a track record of delivering profitable outcomes for his companies.

“We believe his proven leadership skills, allied to a strong gas marketing background, and extensive knowledge of the Australian energy industry will assist the Board in driving Warrego’s future strategy,” Mr Donald said.

Shares in Petrel were up 25 per cent to trade at 0.5 cents each at the close of trade