Cougar Energy has appointed Rob Neill as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective 6 August 2012.

 

The appointment follows Dr Len Walker’s decision to step down from these roles to focus on the commercial development of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology in Asia.

 

Dr Walker will remain on the Board as Executive Director - Technology and Commercialisation.

 

Mr Neill has held management positions within the resources sector. In the UCG sector was Senior Commercial Manager at Linc Energy Limited where he worked across Linc’s divisions of UCG, Gas to Liquids, Drilling and Mergers & Acquisitions for more than two years.

 

“The Cougar Board is extremely enthusiastic about securing the services of an executive with Mr Neill’s broad resources industry background, strong understanding of UCG and Asian business experience”, Cougar Energy Chairman, Mr Malcolm McAully, said.

 

“This is another significant step forward in Cougar Energy’s Asian strategy following on from the establishment of a regional office in Beijing, extension of our UCG technology licence agreement with Ergo Exergy Technologies, Inc., and the progressive development of potentially commercial UCG projects in selected Asian countries,” he said.

 

“Mr Neill’s appointment will bring a strong commercial injection into the project development work currently being undertaken by the Company in Indonesia, China and Mongolia,” he said.

 

Since leaving Linc Energy, Mr Neill has been the CEO & Managing Director of NSP Asia Consulting, a boutique consulting firm based in Singapore advising investors and resources companies on mergers and acquisition opportunities in the coal and iron ore sectors in Asia and Australia.