Circle Oil , the international oil and gas exploration, development and production company, has appointed Mitchell Robert Flegg (54) as chief executive officer and a director of the company with effect from June 1st.

Mr Flegg has over 33 years of industry experience, spanning a wide variety of exploration and production projects at all levels; most recently with Serica Energy, which he joined in 2006, and where he was responsible for all drilling and development operations. He was promoted to the position of chief operating officer in March 2011 and joined the board of Serica in September 2012.

Mr Flegg started his career with Schlumberger Limited and then moved to Enterprise Oil, where he was responsible for drilling operations for wells in a variety of countries. After the takeover by Royal Dutch Shell, he worked on the implementation of new technology in well engineering before moving into asset management.

Commenting on the appointment, Steve Jenkins, Circle Oil chairman, said:

“We are delighted to have Mitch as our new CEO and a member of our board. He brings with him a wealth of experience and a strong operational mindset. I am confident that Mitch will make a significant contribution to the future success of Circle Oil.”