James McKay is the former chairman of successful Coal Seam Gas explorer Sunshine Gas Limited, having overseen that company’s growth to join the ranks of Australia’s Top 150 with a market capitalisation approaching $1 billion prior to its merger with Queensland Gas Company.

Mr McKay brings to Comet Ridge a strong commercial background, with sound finance, business management and legal expertise. He holds degrees in commerce and law, and has been involved in the establishment and development of a number of other businesses including Chartwell Energy Limited.

Tor McCaul has 23 years experience in the oil and gas industry. He graduated with honours in Petroleum Engineering from UNSW in 1987 and spent the next 9 years based in Brisbane working for operating companies in technical roles on projects in Queensland, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Mr McCaul spent the following 11 years in Asia (Karachi, Jakarta, Chennai and Delhi) working for British independent companies in technical, finance, commercial and management roles which included the 23 million-tonne-per-annum Bontang LNG project in Indonesia. He joined Chartwell Energy Limited in Brisbane as Chief Executive Officer in July 2008 and become Managing Director of Comet Ridge Limited in April 2009 following the merger. Mr McCaul is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and has served in several positions, including Chairman, on the executive committee for the Queensland Section.

Jeff Schneider joined the Comet Ridge Board in August 2003. He holds a degree in commerce and has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, including 23 years with Woodside Petroleum Limited. His roles at Woodside included General Manager Commercial, accountable for business and strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and business performance for Woodside’s North West Shelf investment.

In this position he was also responsible for marketing all of the company’s products including natural gas, LNG, condensate and oil. Other roles within Woodside included Director Australian Gas where he was responsible for the commercialisation of reserves in the Otway Basin, Timor Sea and Browse Basin.

Gillian Swaby was appointed a Director in January 2004. She has over 30 years experience in the Australian resources industry. She specialises in the areas of corporate secretarial practice, corporate law, accounting, financial management and control.

Ms Swaby has a Bachelor of Business in Accounting and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. She is the principal of a corporate consulting company and past Chair of the Western Australia Council of Chartered Secretaries of Australia and a former Director on their National Board.
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Chris Pieters is Managing Director and co-founder of Walcot Capital, a private venture capital business specialising in energy investment. Prior to that he was the Chief Commercial Officer at Sunshine Gas Limited where he was a key member of the team that built the company taken over by Queensland Gas Company in 2008. He also held other technical and business development roles whilst at Sunshine Gas.

Mr Pieters has a Bachelor of Science (Geology) and a Bachelor of Business from The University of Queensland, and an Honours degree in Petroleum Geology and Geophysics from The Australian School of Petroleum. He is also a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia.

Tony Gilby was awarded a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) degree in Geology from the University of Adelaide, also winning the University Medal in Geology. He began his career as a geologist for Delhi Petroleum in the Cooper Basin. Subsequent positions were held with Delhi Petroleum and then ESSO (post the Delhi acquisitions). These positions included roles in exploration geology and geophysics as well as petrophysics. He then spent a year working in the Exxon Production Research Centre in Houston.

On return to Australia, he returned to ESSO then worked for MIM Petroleum and the Louisiana Land and Exploration Company (LL&E). In 1996 he took on a variety of consulting roles as well as the acquisition of prospective Queensland acreage in a private capacity. This work culminated with the founding of Sunshine Gas of which he was Managing Director. Mr Gilby is a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Stephen Rodgers is a lawyer with over 20 years experience and holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from QUT. After practicing law with several firms in Brisbane over a 12-year period he operated his own specialist commercial and property law practice for 7 years. Mr Rodgers then joined the successful team at Sunshine Gas Limited, where he was the in-house Legal and Commercial Counsel - a broad role which also included assisting the Company Secretary with many of the facets of that position.

During this period, Mr Rodgers gained invaluable experience in the operation and running of an ASX200 Coal Seam Gas company as well as being an instrumental member of the team which led the takeover negotiations and implementation of QGC’s friendly acquisition of that Company. Mr Rodgers was appointed Company Secretary of Chartwell Energy Limited (now a subsidiary of Comet Ridge Limited) in 2007.

Dale Aaskow was appointed the Engineering and Operations Manager in May 2010. Originally from Canada, he graduated from the British Columbia Institute of Technology with a Diploma in Natural Gas and Petroleum Engineering Technology. He has 26 years of oil and gas industry experience in a variety of roles from field operations to Country Management positions in the Oil and Gas Service Sector, including 10 years in Asia (Malaysia, China and Thailand).

Prior to joining Comet Ridge, Mr. Aaskow worked for a major international service company in a region managerial role focused on unconventional gas developments in Asia Pacific with significant involvement in the Australia CSG Sector. Mr Aaskow is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and has served on the committee of the Queensland section.

Don Langdon was appointed Chief Financial Officer in November 2009. He is a Chartered Accountant with more than 38 years professional experience in audit and corporate services. Prior to joining Comet Ridge he was an Audit Principal with a large mid-tier accounting firm where he gained extensive experience with external and internal audit, due diligence for company floats and major acquisitions, other expert reports, special investigations, valuations, company secretarial matters, Corporations Act requirements and ASX listing rules.

Mr Langdon has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Martin Lee has 18 years oil and gas experience, having worked in commercial and consulting roles in Australia and internationally. He graduated from Monash University with Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Economics degrees, and has worked in LNG, mergers and acquisitions, domestic gas sales, CSG and upstream oil and gas exploration and development.

Mr Lee commenced his career with Woodside, working on the North West Shelf LNG project where he was involved in all commercial aspects of the business. He spent several years in London with Hardy Oil and Gas and Petro-Canada and has worked on projects in the North Sea, North Africa, North America, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia. Prior to joining Comet Ridge, Mr Lee provided consultancy services ranging from major LNG projects such as the Sunrise, Browse and GLNG projects, to working with junior oil and gas explorers on exploration and farm-in opportunities.