Management

Eiliv Gjesdal

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Gjesdal joined Pecan Energies in 2018 and held the roles Chief Procurement Officer and Chief Financial Officer, before becoming the Chief Executive Officer in 2022.

Mr. Gjesdal has 10 years’ experience as chief group controller of Aker Solutions ASA and CFO of MH Wirth before being the CFO of Kvaerner ASA for five years. He is a state authorised public accountant and started his career with Arthur Andersen & Co working with large Norwegian companies.

Mr. Gjesdal holds an M.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in Bergen and is a Norwegian citizen.

Kadijah Amoah

Chief Executive Officer, Pecan Energies Ghana Limited

Mrs. Kadijah Amoah is the Chief Executive Officer of Pecan Energies Ghana Limited. She is a lawyer and the first Ghanaian woman to lead an oil and gas exploration and production company.

She is a member of the Executive Management Team of Pecan Energies in Norway and holds directorships in AGM Petroleum Ghana and Aker Ghana Investment Company. She is also a council member of the Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber.

Prior to joining Pecan Energies, Mrs. Amoah worked as Head of Investments and Business Development at the Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. She was the Government of Ghana lead of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and Government of Ghana lead of the U.K Ghana Business Council.

Mrs. Amoah holds a B.A. (Hons) in Political Science and Sociology, LLB (Hons), and an M.Sc. in International Business from the University of Ghana. A Post Graduate Diploma in Strategy and Innovation and a Masters in Business Administration from the Saïd Business School, (Oriel College) University of Oxford.

Mrs. Amoah is an alumnus of the International Leader’s Programme of the U.K Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Raisa Program by the Spanish government. She is an Eisenhower Fellow and a member of Oriel Law Society, Oriel College.

Per-Kjetil Skare

Chief Commercial Officer

Mr. Per-Kjetil Skare is serving as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Pecan Energies. Skare has also served the role of Chief Executive Officer of AGM Petroleum. Prior to this, he served as an Investment Manager with Aker ASA focusing on portfolio companies within the E&P and Oil Services space. Skare has also worked in investment banking. He holds a Masters degree in finance from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).

Per Arne Nilsen

Pecan Project Manager and Senior Vice President Subsea

Mr. Per Arne Nilsen joined Pecan Energies in May 2020 from TOTAL S.A. France where he served as the Manager of Subsea Technologies. Prior to that he was Subsea Delivery Manager for Woodside in Perth, Australia. He has had many leadership and managerial roles in the international oil and gas industry.

Per has spent most of his career working for international operators (i.e., Equinor, bp, Suncor, Total, Woodside), and as Project Director Asia-Pacific for a major supplier in the oil and gas industry.

He is a recognised professional in deep water and subsea technologies.

Ifor Roberts

SVP Subsurface, Drilling & Wells

Mr. Ifor Roberts joined Pecan Energies in 2018 and has been part of EMT since inception. He was initially responsible for the technical discipline handover from the former DWT/CTP Operator Hess and build-up of the Reservoir Development team. He was subsurface responsible for the first well drilled by Pecan Energies in Ghana, the successful Pecan-4A well, that proved up an additional 100 million bbl recoverable for the Pecan field. He took over responsibility for the Reservoir Development, Exploration and Drilling & Wells teams in 2020 when the company resized. He is Chairman of the DWT/CTP Operating Committee, Chairman of the DWT/CTP Technical Committee and member of the DWT/CTP Joint Management Committee.

Ifor has 30 years’ experience in the offshore oil and gas industry and has managed multidisciplinary teams and projects from exploration, appraisal, field development, operations, and business development. Before joining Pecan Energies he served as Senior Advisor Business Development in Aker BP ASA, heading the technical evaluation of M&A opportunities in an active period where the company acquired or merged with the Norwegian subsidiaries of Marathon, Hess, Svenska, Premier and BP. Mr. Roberts started in Det norske oljeselskap ASA (now Aker BP) in 2010, where he led the Production Technology and Subsurface teams. Prior to joining Det norske, Mr. Roberts held several leading positions in BP Norge, Amoco Norge and Elf Petroleum Norge.

He holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and is a British and Norwegian citizen.

Asle Bjørnstad

SVP FPSO

Mr. Asle Bjørnstad joined Pecan Energies in January 2022 from Aker Floating Production/Ocean Operations where he served as the Managing Director. Asle has 35 years’ experience from the global offshore oil & gas industry with heavy focus on Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) units, Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) and subsea construction.

His background and international postings and experience in West Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia have given him well-developed cultural awareness and people skills. He has technical competence with commercial and contractual focus gained from project and management positions in international companies and projects.

Asle has experience from working as a Procurement/Sourcing Manager on large offshore projects where he has had the full responsibility for USD multi-billion budgets from initial requisition to completion and delivery. In the last 25 years, his focus has been on international business acquisitions and projects where he has assumed senior roles, including project manager, in execution and for preparing for successful start-up/operation and local content in host countries. Across the African continent, from South Africa to Ivory Coast, he has been part of providing and operating numerous OSVs and of winning 10 production units (FPSOs & Jack-ups) on long term contracts, and been involved in their subsequent project execution and operation

Asle has initiated strategic alliances and joint venture companies and served as director in several of these companies in West Africa.

Asle has most of his career worked for Contractors and Service Companies in the oil and gas industry – like Aker Engineering, Alcatel, Heerema, Fred. Olsen Production, Aker Floating Production, Ezra Singapore, Emas Chiyoda, Field Offshore Design Engineering (FODE/Lagos) and Ocean Operation/Ocean Yield.

Asle holds an BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Glasgow University and an MBA from University of Strathclyde.

Kjetil Skjeldestad

VP Drilling & Wells

Mr. Kjetil Skjeldestad is VP of Drilling & Wells in Pecan Energies and responsible for the delivery of drilling and wells in the Pecan development project. He joined the Company from Shell in March 2019. Kjetil started his career with Shell in 2010 and worked with ultra-deepwater well projects in West Africa and the Black Sea, as well as wells on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, with the Ormen Lange deepwater gas development project as the biggest project.

He holds an Msc in Chemical Engineering from NTNU and an executive MBA from NHH in Norway.

Andy Oliver

SVP Operations

Mr. Andy Oliver joined Pecan Energies in April 2024 and serves as the Senior Vice President Operations.

Andy Oliver is an oil and gas energy sector operational leader with over thirty-eight years international industry experience covering the exploration, development, production and decommissioning lifecycles.  His operational experience has also been applied to enhance operational and environmental aspects of mining operations in Australia and South America.

With a proven track record of operating oil and gas, onshore and offshore facilities in harsh and remote locations in the African, European, Australasian and North American continents, he has demonstrated a strong commitment to develop fit-for-purpose systems and processes to increase integrity, efficiency and value in operating businesses.  His African experience includes nine years with Tullow Oil.  There he led the exploration and appraisal program in Uganda and was the Ghana Operations, Project and Engineering Director for the Jubilee and TEN fields.

He has had a wide range of experience in building and leading project teams including Field Developments and complex offshore facility repair programmes.  He remains committed to ensuring high levels of safety within all operational working environments and operate to a net zero green carbon footprint whilst maximising project lifecycle value.