Mongolia focused oil firm Petro Matad 
has bolstered its planned work programmes by hiring an experienced exploration
manager.

Dr Ridvan Karpuz has 23 years” work experience and a proven track record of
significant oil discoveries, it announced today.

His appointment is with immediate effect.

Karpuz”s E&P experience has been in remote and logistically demanding
locations and in globally significant hydrocarbon provinces such as the Middle
East, North Sea, Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, North Atlantic, and North Africa,
it added.

Most recently, he has been at Austrian listed company OMV where he has spent
the last four years working in Iran, Yemen and more recently Tunisia.

Petro Matad”s chief executive, Douglas McGay, said the appointment was a
“further milestone in the company”s renewal programme”. 

“His proven leadership record in commercial oil exploration and
commitment to residency in Mongolia will enhance our exploration
programmes,” McGay told investors.

At the end of June, the company said it was to review its exploration assets
in Mongolia and assess a technical path forward possibly through partnerships.

The company, which recently installed a new management team, added it plans
to revisit the data from last year’s troubled drilling campaign at Davsan
Tolgoi to lower the risks for a drilling campaign planned for 2013.

While this study work is going on, drilling has been suspended for the
remainder of 2012 and drilling and workover rigs have been stood down.