John has over 25 years of hands-on, broad E&P experience in Africa and Europe spanning Asset Management, Field Development Planning, Opportunity Maturation, Business Planning, Economics, Operations, Technology Maturation & Digital Transformation with a strong drive for Continuous Improvement.
John started his career with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in 1997 as a Reservoir Engineer. This was followed by an assignment to Shell International Exploration and Production (SIEP) in The Netherlands as a Studies Petroleum Engineer. Upon return to Nigeria in 2002, he held positions as Asset Reservoir Engineer, Discipline Reservoir Engineer, Reserves Coordinator, and Regional Reserves Trainer covering Shell Companies in Nigeria, Gabon, and Cameroon. In 2007, he was posted to Shell UK, based in Aberdeen. While in the UK, he worked in the Non-Operated Venture as Senior Reservoir Engineer, Sub-surface Lead, and Asset Manager for several North Sea and West of Shetland fields where he led the implementation of several top-level technologies and projects. He also functioned as the Reserves Trainer for Europe covering the UK, Denmark, and Norway.
In 2012, John repatriated to Nigeria to take up roles as Principal (Chief) Reservoir Engineer followed by roles as Business Opportunity Manager (BOM) for Deepwater Waterflood, Technical Planning Manager for Shell Companies in Nigeria, Technology Manager and pioneer Digital Transformation Manager also for Shell Companies in Nigeria where he was accountable for the deployment of several world Firsts technologies.
He joined Seplat Energy in July 2018 as Business Improvement Manager where he led the cultural transformation agenda of the organization with notable improvements in safety leadership, asset integrity, and cost consciousness. John was seconded to Elcrest as Development Manager and was appointed as Elcrest’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) in January 2021. His tenure as COO is notable for world-class safety performance, and excellent project delivery underpinned by disciplined execution leading to production and revenue growth.
John holds an M.Sc degree in Petroleum Engineering from Herriot Watt University and is a Chartered Petroleum Engineer of the Energy Institute, UK.
