Savannah Energy PLC
SAVE:LN
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Overview
Company Profile
Savannah Energy PLC is a leading African‑focused British independent energy company. We are incorporated in England and Wales and are listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Our current operations are in Nigeria and Niger, where we are sustainably developing high‑quality, high‑growth projects in both countries.
In Nigeria, Savannah has a significant controlling interest in a large scale integrated gas production and distribution business which is currently supplying gas to enable over 10% of Nigeria’s thermal power generation and is significantly cash flow generative. In Niger, we have licence interests covering 13,655 km2, approximately 50% of the country’s main petroleum basin, the Agadem Rift Basin in the South East of the country1. To date we have delivered a highly successful exploration campaign in Niger with five discoveries from five wells across five oil fields. We have plans in place to deliver first oil production and revenues following the commencement of installation of an EPS by the end of 2021. Significant further potential on the Savannah PSC areas remains, with 146 further potential exploration targets having been identified for future drilling consideration.
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Corporate
Board of Directors
Mark Iannotti
Non-Executive Director
Mark is an experienced capital markets professional with over 20 years’ experience in EMEA equities, largely focused on the oil and gas sector. Previously, he acted as Managing Director and Head of Securities, UK & Europe of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., and was a member of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s EMEA Executive Committee. Key strengths: Experienced in capital markets, including equities markets, corporate financing, debt and M&A; strong understanding of institutional investor perspectives.
Sir Stephen O’Brien
Vice Chairman
Sir Stephen is a former UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator. Prior to this, he was an MP, serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development and as the Prime Minister’s Envoy & UK Special Representative for the Sahel. Prior to that, Sir Stephen was International Director and Group Company Secretary of the FTSE 100 company, Redland plc, and he began his career as a corporate lawyer. Key strengths: In-depth understanding of international political, social, economic and government affairs; experience in African and emerging markets, industrial management and global public health. External appointments1: Member of the Privy Council; Chairman of Motability Operations Group Plc; and Non-Executive Board Member of Department for International Trade. 1 External appointments are defined as those directorships taking a material amount of time.
David Clarkson
Non-Executive Director
David initially served on the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director from December 2017 to June 2018 and then acted as Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) of the Company from June 2018 to December 2019. Upon appointment of the new COO, David resumed his role as a Non-Executive Director in December 2019. David was formerly a member of BP’s Group Leadership Team and Senior Vice President for Projects and Engineering (Upstream) at BP. Throughout a 34-year career with BP, he was responsible for delivering safe, reliable industry-leading projects in challenging frontier locations. Key strengths: Chartered Engineer; extensive knowledge of the oil and gas industry, including safety, operational, commercial and strategic aspects of running oil and gas operations.
Andrew Knott
Chief Executive Officer
Andrew is the principal founder of Savannah and has been the Group’s CEO since inception. As such, he has led all of the Group’s key growth initiatives, including the acquisition of the Niger PSCs and the Group’s expansion into Nigeria. Prior to establishing Savannah, Andrew held a series of leading roles in the European oil and gas sector, including Head of Global Energy Investments for GLG Partners/ MAN Group and Head of Upstream Oil & Gas Research at Merrill Lynch. Key strengths: Deep knowledge of and contact network within the oil and gas industry; experienced leader with a proven track record of identifying, financing and successfully managing projects in emerging market environments.
Nick Beattie
Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary
Nick was appointed as Group Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) in June 2022. Nick joined the Group in April 2019 as Group Treasurer and was appointed Interim Group CFO and Company Secretary in August 2021. During his time at Savannah, Nick has been actively involved i nall finance and business development activities for the Group. Nick has an extensive background in financing energy companies, including seven years with BNP Paribas where he was a Managing Director in the Upstream Oil and Gas team in London, responsible for leading the bank relationships with UK-focused independent E&P companies. Nick is a Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.
Sarah Clark
Non-Executive Director
Sarah was an elite level athlete for 18 years and is a former British, European and Commonwealth champion in the sport of judo, who competed at three Olympic Games for Great Britain. She is currently CEO of Edinburgh Judo one of the UK’s largest, most successful and fastest growing judo clubs catering for 4-year-old beginners all the way through to Olympic medallists. Sarah has worked extensively in mentor, role model and leadership positions with organisations such as the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, the Youth Sport Trust and the Winning Scotland Foundation. In these roles her focus has been to deliver personal and group development programmes to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities. She has also worked extensively with individuals and companies delivering programmes around the positive learnings businesses can take from the elite level sport world. Key strengths: Highly experienced in training and development of people, and mentoring and coaching high-performance teams. External appointments1: Director of Peebles Sport Ltd
Dr Djamila Ferdjani
Non-Executive Director
Djamila is a medical doctor, entrepreneur and social activist. She founded the then largest private medical hospital in Niger, the Pro-Santé Polyclinic, of which she was President and CEO. Djamila formerly served as a technical consultant to the Islamic Development Bank and as a Professor of Health Prevention and Promotion at the African Development University. She is a founding Board member of Afrikajom (the leading Pan African human rights focused think tank) and is the founder and President of Med-Com (a Niger focused medical and educational NGO). She is a former member of the executive committee of the Orange Niger Foundation. She regularly speaks at African focused Human Rights events, including those organised by the World Bank, Oxfam, Plan International, the G5 Sahel, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and TEDx. Djamila has been named by the United Nations Population Fund as one of the 100 women leaders in Niger and by Facebook as one of 19 African LeadHERs breaking boundaries in the fields of media, entertainment, education and business. Key strengths: Extensive emerging markets experience particularly in West Africa. Significant background in social affairs and working with NGO and development focused organisations. External appointments1: None
Joseph Pagop Noupoué
Chair of the Board
Joseph Pagop Noupoué is the Managing Partner of ECA Conseils, an organisation that brings together two professional service firms, namely ECA SA (formerly ECA EY Cameroun SA) and ECA Tax & Legal (formerly EY Cameroon SARL). His work is focused around corporate (including contract, M&A and dispute resolution) and fiscal law matters in Cameroon and other French speaking African countries. He was formerly a senior partner at EY, the leading global professional services firm, for over 16 years, where his role included major client relationship management in the French speaking and Northern regions of Africa, as well as head of the Africa Department of EY Société d’Avocats France, EY Managing Partner for Cameroon and EY Tax Leader for French speaking Africa, where he led more than 400 professional service providers located in nine countries. Key strengths: Attorney at Law by profession; strong advisory expertise in the oil and gas, mining, electricity, and general energy sectors, including advising leading FTSE 100, CAC40 and Fortune 500 energy and mining services companies and major private equity house; significant experience in Africa. External appointments:, ECA SA (formerly ECA EY Cameroun SA) and ECA Tax & Legal (formerly EY Cameroon SARL), Terres du Moungo SARLU, Ranch de Ngaoundaba SARL
Steve Jenkins
Non-Executive Director
Steve joined Savannah as Non-Executive Chair in July 2014. He retired as Chair in June 2023 but remains on the Board as a Non-Executive Director. He is widely recognised as one of the most capable oil and gas executives in the UK. Steve was the CEO of Nautical Petroleum Limited and led the company’s £414 million sale to Cairn Energy in 2012. Prior to this, Steve held a variety of senior roles at Nimir Petroleum Limited, a private company focused on emerging markets with extensive global exploration and production interests. Key strengths: Geologist by profession; significant experience in emerging markets, transactions and M&A; deep understanding of commercial, operations and strategic aspects of managing an oil and gas company. External appointments1: Chairman of the Oil and Gas Independents Association; Non-Executive Director of Talon Petroleum Limited, Microenergy Generation Services Limited, Terrain Energy Limited and Evoterra Limited.