Look out below!!, page-7

Two familiar names from Australia’s oil and gas industry are in the running for the top job at one of the country’s forgotten petroleum upstarts, Tap Oil.
DataRoom understands that former Roc Oil chief executive Alan Linn and former AWE boss Bruce Clement have both been approached for the managing director’s role at Tap, a one-time bright spot in Australia’s mid-tier oil and gas sector that has fallen on hard times in recent years.
Linn led Roc from October 2010 up until its $474 million cash takeover by China’s Fosun International Group. His last executive role was a case of rotten timing, joining London-listed Afren in April last year, just months before the group collapsed into administration.
Linn was brought into Afren in the hope he could salvage the company after it sacked its former chief executive and chief operating officer for alleged gross misconduct over “unauthorised payments”.
Mr Clement, meanwhile, preceded Mr Linn in the CEO’s chair at Roc between 2008 and 2010 before jumping over to AWE in 2011. He retired from the company earlier this year.
It’s likely neither would have envisaged running a company of Tap’s (now substantially diminished) size a couple of years back, but it’s an indication of the conditions in the sector and the dearth of senior job opportunities available that both men are prepared to consider the role.
Tap has been without a full-time managing director and CEO since the resignation of Troy Hayden in June. Hayden stepped down into a part-time role as part of a clean-out of the company in response to the weak oil price that saw fulltime staff slashed from 18 to seven.
His departure was also among a series of board changes designed to reduce the angst among major shareholders Northern Gulf Petroleum and Risco.
Shares in Tap have been trading at their lowest levels in history this year, closing at just 8.2c yesterday. It’s a far cry from a decade ago when the stock topped $2.50 and was seen as the sector’s promising up and comer.
The company’s key asset today is its 30 per cent interest in the Manora oilfield off Thailand, which just happened to come on stream just as oil prices were starting to tank. It also holds interests in a host of permits off Western Australia but most of those are sitting idle in the current depressed environment for oil and gas plays.
Tap has been working hard to get its debt under control, with the company at the end of September carrying $US15.8 million ($20.9m) of debt and $US11.1m of cash.