London: 14th August, 2025.
Impact Oil & Gas Limited (“Impact” or the “Company”), a privately-owned, Africa-focused, exploration company is pleased to announce the appointment of Bjørn Thore Ribesen as its new Chief Operating Officer.
Bjørn brings significant expertise in drilling, operations, field development and offshore project leadership having held a number of senior technical and executive positions within the oil and gas sector both in Norway and internationally.
He began his career at Schlumberger (SLB) progressing to Field Service Manager, before joining Det Norske (later Aker BP) where he had roles as Drilling Manager, Offshore Installation Manager, member of the Board and played a pivotal role in transforming the company from a pure exploration business into a full-cycle E&P operator.
Bjorn joined Aker Energy in 2018 and was instrumental in establishing the company’s West African operations, building the local organization, managing deepwater exploration campaigns, and co-leading development planning for Pecan] one of the region’s largest untapped oil discoveries.
Most recently, he served as Vice President for Field Developments & Projects responsible for all projects and field developments, and later as Senior Vice President for Drilling & Wells at Vår Energi, overseeing multiple offshore campaigns and partner-operated activities.
Bjorn holds a B.Eng in Offshore Engineering from Newcastle University, an EMBA from the Norwegian School of Economics.
Siraj Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of Impact, commented:
“We are delighted to welcome Bjorn to the Impact team. His extensive engineering, project management and technical expertise, and proven track record of delivering complex projects throughout his 30-year career in the energy industry, makes him an outstanding addition to the team. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for Impact as the Joint Venture advances the proposed development of the Venus field in Namibia, and it positions the Company strongly for our next phase of growth and value creation”.
Enquiries:
Impact Oil and Gas +44 1483 750 588
Siraj Ahmed, CEO
PR & Media: Camarco +44 20 3757 4980
Georgia Edmonds, Kirsty Duff
About Impact Oil & Gas
Impact is a UK-based, privately owned, independent exploration company with a focus on finding large scale, deep water plays offshore Western and Southern Africa. These plays must be of sufficient materiality to attract partnership by industry majors with the expertise to subsequently drill.
Impact acquired its first asset offshore South Africa over a decade ago and over that period having expanded its asset base across the offshore margins of Southern and West Africa, it is now focused offshore Namibia and South Africa. Amongst its portfolio, Impact has interests in the Venus oil discovery offshore Namibia and an indirect interest in the Brulpadda and Luiperd gas condensate discoveries offshore South Africa. The Company’s current portfolio covers a combined area of over 170,000 km² (gross) (including an indirect interest in Block 11b/12b, South Africa), and is partnered with Shell, TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy.
Impact has matured a number of significant prospects across a portfolio that has, for the most part, been grown organically. The Venus discovery was made from Impact’s home-gown portfolio, whilst Impact indirectly participated in the Brulpadda-1X and Luiperd-1X gas condensate discoveries on Block 11b/12b in South Africa in 2019 and 2020, respectively. These discoveries, and the remaining exploration opportunities in Impact’s portfolio, target a deep-water Cretaceous play, which extends from southernmost Namibia, around South Africa as far as the Durban Basin, and is the focus of Impact’s exploration strategy. Impact holds a material acreage position across this entire play fairway.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain certain statements that are, or may be deemed to be, “forward-looking statements”. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including, for example, the words “believes”, “estimates”, “plans”, “projects”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “intends”, “may”, “will”, or “should” and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts, and may include statements regarding the Company’s current intentions, beliefs or expectations. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to future events and circumstances and are based on certain assumptions and factors, which are based on information currently available to the Company, and which may prove to be incorrect. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward looking statements. The Company is not under any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.