Hamilton, Bermuda - July 18, 2014, Hamilton, Bermuda - Gulf Keystone Petroleum announced that Todd Kozel has decided to stand down from the board and not to accept the previously announced role of executive director upon retiring as CEO.
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In 1988 Mr. Kozel founded Texas Keystone Inc. He served as Texas Keystone’s President from 1995 to 2004 and has served as a director since 1988. He also co-founded Falcon Drilling Company LLC, an American independent drilling and oilfield services company, in 2001 and serves on its Board of Directors.
John B. Gerstenlauer, who served as Gulf Keystone's Chief Operating Officer since 2008, assumes the role of Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Gerstenlauer joined Gulf Keystone in 2008. His oil & gas industry career began when he joined Shell Coastal Division, New Orleans, as a Petrophysical Engineer in 1978.
Over subsequent years, Mr. Gerstenlauer assumed increasingly senior production engineering and drilling engineering roles within various New Orleans-based Shell operating divisions including Coastal, Onshore and Offshore until joining Shell Oil subsidiary Pecten Cameroon Inc as Engineering Manager in 1985, where he was responsible for 50,000 bopd of operated offshore production, and a further 120,000 bopd of non-operated offshore production.
Mr. Gerstenlauer returned to Shell Offshore East and Coastal Divisions, New Orleans in 1989 as Production Superintendent before transferring to Shell Oil subsidiary Pecton do Brasil Ltd as Engineering Manager in 1990, and then in 1993 he was seconded to Canadian Occidental Yemen (CanOxy Yemen) as Operations Manager. At CanOxy Yemen Mr. Gerstenlauer managed the project from start-up to full production of 210,000 bopd.
In 1996, Mr. Gerstenlauer joined UMC Petroleum firstly as International Engineering Manager and then International Operations Manager focussed mainly on West African offshore projects. Following UMC's planned takeover by Ocean Energy in 1998, Mr. Gerstenlauer joined Wintershall AG, Kassel, Germany as Project Manager then Consultant before becoming Managing Director of Wintershall Nederland Group, The Hague in 2003. ■