Iona Energy Inc. reported that Alan Curran has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of the Corporation effective March 1, 2012. Mr. Curran has more than 29 years of experience in the oil and gas exploration and production industry.

He has been involved in a senior management capacity with a number of companies active in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea. Mr. Curran graduated from Edinburgh University with a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Chemical Engineering.

After graduation he joined Shell U.K. Limited where he worked in a variety of petroleum engineering, production operations and new field development roles. In 1992, Mr. Curran moved to Oryx Energy which was acquired by Kerr-McGee Corporation in 1999.

During his time at Kerr-McGee, Mr. Curran worked in a range of subsurface, asset management and commercial roles progressively becoming a key member of the UK leadership team.

His final duties with Kerr-McGee entailed the sale of the UK business in 2005 to Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd. and Centrica plc for approximately US$3.5 billion. Following the sale, Mr. Curran worked with Maersk until March 2006 when he joined Lundin Britain Ltd. as Managing Director, a position he held until March 2009. Prior to joining Iona, Mr. Curran was Chief Executive of Wood Group (John) plc's North Sea subsidiary.

Tags: Iona Energy Inc.