OREANDA-NEWS. Tower Resources plc (the “Company” or “Tower” (TRP.L, TRP LN)), the AIM-listed Africa-focussed oil and gas exploration company, is pleased to announce the appointment to the Board of Dr Philip Leighton Frank, who joins as Independent Non-Executive Director, and of Nigel Alan Quinton as Exploration Director, with immediate effect.

Dr Frank, 62, has over 30 years’ wide ranging experience in the oil & gas industry, having commenced his career with BP where he reached the position of Assistant Chief Geologist, a company-wide role. Philip subsequently held a series of senior exploration and business development positions across a number of successful E&P companies including Clyde Petroleum, Triton Resources, Monument Oil & Gas and LASMO.

In 2003 Philip joined Emerald Energy, a FTSE-250 oil company, as Exploration Manager and was instrumental in the success of its Colombia and Syria exploration programmes, which resulted in Emerald’s acquisition by the Sinochem Group for ?532 million in 2009.

Until March 2015, when he retired from full-time employment, Philip was Exploration Director at Sterling Energy with responsibility for all new venture and exploration activities in Africa and Kurdistan. Most notably this included Sterling’s entry into Somaliland via a carried interest in the Odewayne block with Genel Energy plc, the drilling of the Bamboo-1 exploration well on the Ntem licence, offshore Cameroon, and the farm-out of the Ambilobe block, Madagascar, in exchange for a carry through a 3D seismic programme.

Philip has a BSc in Geology and a PhD from the University of Liverpool and is a Fellow of the Geological Society.

He will serve as an Independent Non-ExecutiveDirector and will be a member of the Audit, Remuneration and Nominations Committees.

Nigel Quinton, is a geoscientist with over 30 years international exploration experience. He has worked in various senior roles in BP, Dragon Oil, and Hardy Oil & Gas. A co-founder of Sterling Energy, he was Managing Director until its listing on AIM in 2002, whereupon he became Operations and Technical Director, building an extensive African portfolio. From 2005 he worked as an independent consultant to various oil exploration companies, including serving as Senior Advisor to the Hashoo Group.

Nigel has worked at Tower since late 2012, initially as a consultant and then as Head of Exploration. He was instrumental in the purchases of Wilton Petroleum, Rift Petroleum and the development of the Group’s exploration portfolio, has overseen the drilling operations and most recently led in the evaluation and negotiation of the entry into the Thali PSC, Cameroon.

Nigel, 54, holds a BA and MA in Geological Sciences from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Geological Society. He will be Exploration Director.

Jeremy Asher, Chairman, commented: “I am very pleased to welcome Philip and Nigel to the Board. In the context of Tower’s growing portfolio, including the recent signing of the 100% Operated Thali PSC in Cameroon, we will be glad to have additional technical expertise available. I look forward to their strong contribution to Tower’s future success”.