Petroceltic declared the appointment of Tom Hickey as Corporate Development Director. Mr Hickey was previously an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Tullow Oil plc. Tom will join the Board with immediate effect, and will assume his executive position on 1st December 2010.

Tom (42) was Chief Financial Officer and a director of Tullow Oil plc (Tullow) from 2000-08. During this time Tullow grew via a number of significant acquisitions including the US $570 million acquisition of Energy Africa in 2004 and the US $1.1 billion acquisition of Hardman Resources in 2007. Tullow also experienced considerable exploration success, leading to the establishment of important new oil provinces in Ghana and Uganda.

Prior to joining Tullow, Tom was an Associate Director of ABN AMRO Corporate Finance (Ireland) Limited, with responsibility for advising public and private companies in relation to equity fund raising, mergers and acquisitions, and related transactions. A Commerce graduate of University College Dublin and a Fellow of the Irish Institute of Chartered Accountants, he is also a non-executive Director of PetroNeft Resources and of Ikon Science Limited.

Rob Arnott, Chairman of Petroceltic, commented, "Tom brings a wide range of skills and experience to Petroceltic and on behalf of the board and our shareholders, I am delighted to welcome him to the team as Corporate Development Director. This appointment underlines our ambition and intention to continue to grow Petroceltic's Exploration and Production business over the coming years and significantly increases our capacity for deal-making and execution".

Tags: Petroceltic International plc