Rex Appoints Former Schlumberger Executive Svein Kjellsvik as COO

Singapore-listed Rex International Holding Limited (RIH) appointed Svein Kjellesvik as the company's new chief operating officer (COO).

Kjellesvik, a geophysicist with four decades of experience in the oil industry, has held leading positions in Schlumberger's seismic division and corporate headquarters from the 1970s to 2002, including as president of its Global Marine Seismic Division.

Since retiring from Schlumberger, the new COO has been an independent entrepreneur. Kjellesvik was involved in the start-up of Rex Middle East Ltd. (formerly known as Rex Oil & Gas) and Lime Petroleum Plc, which are a wholly-owned subsidiary and an indirect 65 percent owned jointly controlled entity of RIH respectively. In addition, he holds a controlling interest of 20 percent in Rex Partners Ltd., whose wholly-owned subsidiary Rex Commercial Ltd. is a majority shareholder of RIH.

Kjellesvik holds a Master degree in Applied Geophysics from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) in Trondheim, Norway.

“We welcome Svein on board the Rex management team. He is the best candidate for the role, given his involvement in the Group’s genesis and his deep knowledge and long experience in the geology and geophysical (G&G) aspects of oil exploration, an area where we have identified that we need to be more self-reliant,” Dan Brostrom, executive chairman of RIH said in the press release.

Kjellesvik is a member of RIH’s recently formed in-house technical review group, which also includes Dr. Christopher Atkinson and Dr .Rabi Bastia. The group is tasked to scrutinize all G&G information shared by third parties, to increase the company's focus on improving porosity and permeability predictions.

“Despite the challenging macro-economic conditions, we remain confident about our Rex Virtual Drilling technology and the potential in our assets. Together with Svein, the Rex management team is pressing on to reduce the risks of our exploration prospects with the aim to better our results in future drilling programs,” Mans Lidgren, RIH's CEO commented.