Andrew Austin
Peter Mann
Richard Slape
Richard Benmore
Steve Pawson
Alan Booth
Andrew Austin
Executive Chairman
Andrew Austin founded Kistos in November 2020, and held the position of Non-Executive Chairman until the admission of Kistos to Alternative Investment Market (AIM), when he assumed the position of interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In October 2021, he assumed the position of Executive Chairman following the appointments of Peter Mann and Richard Slape.
Andrew Austin served as Executive Chairman of RockRose Energy from 2016 until 2020, delivering a 42-fold return to shareholders through a strategy of counter-cyclical acquisitions of legacy/non-core assets in the UK and Dutch sectors of the North Sea. RockRose Energy was sold to Viaro Energy in August 2020 at a price per share of £18.50, representing a premium to the prevailing share price of 64%.
Prior to RockRose Energy, Andrew jointly founded IGas in 2004 and developed it to become the leading onshore hydrocarbon producer in the UK, delivering natural gas and crude oil to Britain’s energy market. Andrew left IGas in 2015, having delivered partnerships with Total, GDF and INEOS. Prior to his tenure at IGas, Andrew spent six years in management and consulting roles with clean tech companies including Generics Group and Whitfield Solar.
Andrew spent 17 years working in investment banking in the City of London with Merrill Lynch, Nomura, Citibank and Barclays Capital.
Peter Mann
Chief Executive Officer
Appointed October 2023
Peter Mann was CEO and Managing Director of RockRose Energy from 2017 until 2021, following five years in the UK onshore oil and gas industry. During this period, Peter was responsible for business strategy and implementing a restructuring strategy in the difficult oil price environment at the time.
Prior to joining the oil and gas industry, Peter’s career included various management roles. He also served in the British Army for six years.
Richard Slape
Chief Financial Officer
Appointed October 2021
Richard Slape was Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of RockRose Energy from 2019 until 2021. Richard has more than 30 years of experience working with oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies. He has spent much of his career working in equity capital markets but also held roles at Rockhopper Exploration and Lansdowne Oil & Gas, where he was a Director.
Richard Benmore B.Sc, M. Sc, Ph.D
Non-Executive Director
Appointed November 2020
Richard Benmore has more than 35 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry with Conoco, Oryx Energy, Nimir Petroleum, EnCana, Nexen Petroleum and IGas. Richard has held a variety of roles, starting his career as a petroleum geologist before moving into various commercial, business development, and E&P managerial positions. He recently managed Nexen’s unconventional projects in the UK and Poland, and was a Board member of Nexen Exploration UK. Richard was a Non-Executive Director of RockRose Energy.
Steve Pawson
Non-Executive director and chair of audit committee
Appointed June 2024
Steve Pawson has 40 years’ finance experience in the oil and gas exploration and production sector. He spent ten years both with Phillips Petroleum and ARCO British, fulfilling various financial roles in the UK and overseas. He then joined Star Energy, where he set up the finance function and was involved in its IPO in 2004, which was the largest on AIM that year. From 2017 to 2019, Steve was the Finance Director of RockRose Energy plc where he was again involved in setting up the finance function, incorporating several acquisitions, and in various funding/financing activities.
Alan Booth
Non-Executive director
Appointed November 2020
Alan Booth has more than 30 years’ experience in oil and gas exploration. He is currently Executive Chair of Storegga, a company delivering carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen and other subsurface renewable projects in the UK and internationally. Between 2013 and 2018, Alan was a Non-Executive Director of Ophir Energy plc, becoming CEO in May 2018. Previously, Alan was founder and CEO of EnCore Oil plc, an AIM-listed oil and gas exploration company, and was the founder and Director of EnCounter Oil Ltd.
Alan holds a BSc in geology from the University of Nottingham and a MSc DIC (Diploma of Imperial College) in petroleum geology from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College. He is a former President of the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) and was a Director of the Oil and Gas Independents’ Association (OGIA) between 2006 and February 2020.