John Bentley (59), a British citizen, has over 35 years of experience in international natural resource corporations. Since 1993 when he was appointed CEO exploration and production for Engen Ltd., the South African oil company, he has had a specific focus in the upstream oil and gas industry in Africa. In 1996 he was instrumental in the formation of Energy Africa Ltd. and its listing on the Johannesburg and Luxembourg stock exchanges. Over the next five years as the company"s CEO, John led Energy Africa"s growth into one of the leading independent upstream companies with a fourfold increase in production, operations in 12 African countries, and several important hydrocarbon resource discoveries.

John"s earlier career was spent in a number of senior management roles at Gencor Ltd, the South African mining group, culminating in a period from 1988 through 1992 as Managing Director of Sao Bento Mineracao SA, Gencor"s Brazilian gold mining affiliate. From 2004 to 2006, he served as Vice Chairman of Vanco Energy Company, a Houston based independent oil and gas exploration company with a focus on deepwater Africa. More recently, Mr. Bentley served as Executive Chairman of FirstAfrica Oil plc until its acquisition by BowLeven plc in early 2007.

He is currently non-executive chairman of CDS Oil & Gas Group plc, non-executive director of Rift Oil plc, and non-executive Chairman designate of Faroe Petroleum plc. John holds a degree in Metallurgy from Brunel University.

Steve Mason, President and CEO, stated "We are pleased to welcome John"s input to the Artumas board and believe that his experience in the African upstream oil and gas sector along with his experience in corporate transactions and financing will contribute significantly to the next stage of the company"s development".

PIN/Acnnewswire.Net