Leadership

Mr Khare was appointed Head of India Assets on 8 November 2016 and Executive Director on 24 January 2024 (with his appointment finalising effective 2 April 2024). Mr. Khare is based in India. Mr Khare has over 24 years of experience in the petroleum industry. Mr Khare’s area of expertise include upstream oil and gas, as well as midstream and downstream project implementation and steady state operations management. Mr Khare originally worked for Synergia Energy Ltd as GM Operations & Business Development; and has experience working for various Indian companies including Cairn India Ltd and Reliance Petroleum.

Andrew was appointed as Synergia Energy Ltd's CFO on 4 November 2024 and Executive Director in February 2025. 

Andrew qualified as a chartered accountant with Garbutt & Elliott in 2011, and went on to work in audit for Grant Thornton. In 2014, Andrew joined Getech Group plc, establishing their new finance team. In 2018, Andrew was appointed to Getech's board and played an instrumental part in several acquisitions and share placings. Andrew has a master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of York and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Mr Salomon has a Bachelor degree in Applied Science and is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia, South East Asian Petroleum Exploration Society and has over 39 years’ experience working for upstream energy companies. Mr Salomon has worked for a number of oil & gas companies in various senior positions including General Manager Exploration and New Ventures at Murphy Oil Corporation and Global Head of Geoscience at RISC PL, in addition to a number of executive director roles including Strategic Energy Resources, Norwest Energy and Nido Petroleum. At several times in his career, Mr Salomon has acted as an independent consultant for various oil & gas companies, including New Standard Energy and Pacrim Energy. Mr Salomon first worked on Indian projects in 1994 while at Ampolex and since that time has maintained connection with the Indian industry, at various times bidding in India’s exploration and field development rounds and working with Indian companies as joint venture partners, both in India and internationally.

Mr Salomon was appointed as a Director in November 2015 and became Managing Director in March 2016.

In April 2020 Mr Salomon was appointed as Interim Chairman of the Company. Mr Salomon continued as Managing Director and Interim Chairman until he was appointed as Executive Chairman on 16 June 2021. 

Mr Wessel was appointed as Synergia Energy Ltd's Chief Executive Officer and Director on 16 June 2021.

Mr Wessel is a geologist with over 46 years’ experience in all of the world’s major oil and gas regions. Mr Wessel founded and built Star Energy, the UK onshore operator of 25 oil and gas fields, through to its listing on AIM in 2004 and its sale to Petronas in 2008. During its evolution, Star Energy grew rapidly through acquisitions and diversification, culminating in it becoming a major gas storage developer and operator. Throughout his career, Mr Wessel has founded and managed a drilling services company and has developed and patented several key oilfield technologies. He has extensive experience in both project and corporate management.

Luke leads a team from Melbourne, Australia working with various companies in company secretarial support, listed compliance and governance software solutions. Luke has worked in private legal practice, in-house secretariat and for the last 16 years at Computershare in governance services. He is a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Mr Bolton joined the Company as an executive on 3 June 2016 and subsequently an Executive Director before transitioning to a Non-Executive Director on 1 July 2021. Mr Bolton has significant experience in the resource sector internationally in the capacity of CEO, COO, CFO and Company Secretary for a number of resource companies since 2003. Prior to this, Mr Bolton worked with Ernst & Young as an Executive Director in Corporate Finance.  He also has extensive experience in capital markets in a number of jurisdictions including ASX, AIM and the TSX. Mr Bolton is the Managing Director of Panthera Resources PLC (AIM:PAT) and a Non-Executive Director of West Cobar Metals Limited (ASX:WC1).

Mr Paul Haywood was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Synergia Energy in May 2017. He has over 20 years of international experience, including 15 years in the oil and gas sector, where he has specialised in identifying, acquiring, developing, and monetising energy assets.

Paul brings a cross-functional skill set across strategy, execution, capital markets, transaction management, and operations. He has held senior roles in UK and Australian listed companies, with a focus on oil and gas development in the UK, EU, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

He is the founder and current CEO of Block Energy plc (AIM: BLOE), which operates a portfolio of oil and gas assets in Georgia. He also founded Antler Global, an independent energy company focused on acquiring and developing high-impact assets across Africa.

Mr Schwarz was appointed as a Non-Executive Director in September 2019. A former director of BG Exploration and Production Limited and CEO of independent exploration company Virgo Energy Ltd, Mr Schwarz is an AAPG Certified Petroleum Geologist and business development professional with over 45 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr Schwarz has previously held various senior management roles with Amerada Hess, BG, and Marubeni and is currently a director of Finite Energy Limited, an oil and gas consultancy business he founded over 16 years ago, specialising in strategy and business development advice in the UK and Europe.