The founder and Managing Director of Australian Worldwide Exploration (AWE), Bruce Phillips, has decided to leave the company in the second half of 2007 to pursue new challenges and is set to be replaced by former Delhi Petroleum Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Wood.

Phillips said he will stay in his current role until the second half of 2007 to oversee the start of commercial oil production in the company’s fourth cornerstone asset area, the Tui Area oil project in New Zealand.

“It is with obvious mixed feelings that I have decided to move on to new challenges after achieving what I set out to do with AWE nearly 10 years ago”, Phillips said. “However interests outside my role at AWE are taking an increasing amount of my time and will preclude me from fulfilling a 24/7 commitment in the years to come.”

“Under such circumstances, it is in the best interest of shareholders that I make way for someone who can make such a commitment. Helping AWE grow to where it stands today has been immensely satisfying. The company is now in an excellent position, with a strong balance sheet, high quality assets, a good growth outlook and a talented work force guided by an experienced board of directors. I will miss my work at AWE, but am comforted by the fact that I will leave the company in good hands.”

AWE Chairman Bruce McKay said the board is indebted to Phillips for his exceptional contribution to the company, its shareholders and its employees. “We thank him for his invaluable service”, McKay said. “While we regret that he is moving on from AWE, we sincerely wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

“Under the guidance of Phillips AWE has grown from a junior exploration company into Australia’s sixth largest petroleum producing company with a market capitalisation of more than $1.2 billion and producing assets in Western Australia and in both the offshore Otway and Bass basins off the Victorian coast.”

McKay said Wood has agreed to join the company in April 2007, initially as Executive Director business development and subsequently succeeding Phillips as Managing Director in the second half of 2007.

“We are fortunate that Bruce Wood is joining AWE and we welcome his guiding hand through the years ahead as we consolidate the company’s achievements and pursue opportunities for continued growth”, he said. “Bruce Wood brings a career of significant Australian and international industry experience with BHP Petroleum, Shell, Triton Energy, his own consultancy Gas Strategies, Santos and most recently as CEO of Delhi Petroleum.”

“Outside Australia, he has worked in Holland, France, USA and Central America as well as being involved in business development activities in Indonesia. We are confident that this planned change in executive management of the company will not detract from the continued pursuit of our objectives.”

Eve Howell has received the 2006 Western Australia Gas Industry Development Award from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy and North West Shelf Gas.

Howell is a former Managing Director of Apache
Energy Ltd. (Australia) and is currently the Director of Woodside Energy’s North West Shelf Ventures.

North West Shelf Gas General Manager, Gordon Rule, said Howell had made a significant contribution to the domestic gas sector in WA through her work at Apache, including the development of the Varanus Island hub.

“Apache Energy initiated the supply of gas into the Goldfields, the Mid West and the East Pilbara in particular and is also a key supplier into the South West of WA”, Rule said. “I am sure Eve will continue to play an active role in the domestic gas sector through her new position as Director of North West Shelf Ventures at Woodside Energy.”

A special award was also presented to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline in recognition of the pivotal role played by the pipeline over the past two decades.

Australian Renewable Fuels has appointed Ross Garrity as its new Chief Executive Officer for the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) region.

Garrity worked for Woodside from 1989 as a senior accountant for a decade before joining KPMG USA as a partner in the oil and gas sector based in Houston. He then worked in the telecommunications industry in North America.

He will be based in Dallas and will be responsible for the planning of the company’s proposed biodiesel business in the United States.

Arfuels Managing Director, Darryl Butcher, said Garrity was appointed because of his extensive experience in the petroleum industry and knowledge of the North American business environment in senior management roles.