Board of Directors

Thomas Ehret

Thomas (Tom) Ehret

Non-Executive Chairman

Tom joined the Board in December 2020. In his 35 year executive career he has held a variety of technical, commercial and managerial positions in several leading offshore engineering and construction companies in Europe and in the USA, serving the global oil and gas industry.

He was CEO of Stena Offshore, leading its turnaround from a loss-making business through its acquisition of Santa Fe's pipelay business and the merger between Stena Offshore and the US listed Coflexip. He then became Group Vice-Chairman and President of the offshore branch of Paris-listed Technip, after they acquired Coflexip Stena Offshore, and was latterly the CEO of US and Norway listed Acergy SA (now Subsea7). He continued as a Non-Executive Director after his retirement in 2008 and was elected Deputy Chairman in 2009, a position he held until the merger with Subsea 7.

He is currently Chairman of Telford Offshore Holdings Ltd, Non-Executive Director of Huisman Equipment BV, and of Comex SA. He is also an active investor in various private businesses. He graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers (Paris).

Joseph Elkhoury

Joseph Elkhoury

Chief Executive Officer

​Joseph joined KCA Deutag as CEO on 1 July 2019, bringing with him extensive experience in a wide variety of operational and leadership roles in the oilfield services industry. Most notably he spent 21 years with Schlumberger where he held a number of senior positions and had responsibility for several of the company's businesses including Microseismic Services, Production Services, Information Solutions and Global Supply Chain.

Joseph was also previously Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President for Tetra Technologies, Inc, and more recently an Operating Partner, focusing on investment opportunities in the energy technology sector, at Apollo Global Management LLC.

Neil Gilchrist

Neil Gilchrist

Chief Financial Officer

Neil joined KCA Deutag as Chief Financial Officer in January 2013 and is responsible for the finance, corporate development, tax and treasury functions.

Neil started his career with Price Waterhouse in 1988 and qualified as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for Scotland in 1991. He then built up 20 years' financial management experience in the petrochemical industry with the LyondellBasell group including several years in Europe, an assignment in Asia, where he was Director of Finance and Corporate Strategy for its Korean joint venture and the last four years at the headquarters in Houston.

Peter Thomas

Peter Thomas

Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair

Peter joined the Board in December 2020 and has 30 years’ experience in senior financial positions in the oil and gas industry.

He began his career with KPMG and became a specialist in oil and gas before moving into industry with Enterprise Oil plc where he became Group Treasurer and Head of Planning. He then served as CFO for Hardman Resources Limited and Finance Director of Stratic Energy Corporation, Nexus Energy, Ophir Energy and UK/Europe CFO for TAQA.

Peter was most recently CFO at NEO Energy and previously CFO of Neptune Energy Group, a private equity backed oil and gas business where he played a key role in the $4bn acquisition of the international oil and gas business of ENGIE, including deal structuring and negotiations, transition management and arranging $2.5bn debt financings.

Peter is a Chartered Accountant and Zoology graduate of the University of Bristol.

Angela Durkin

Angela Durkin

Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair

Angela joined the Board in December 2020, after more than two decades in the drilling and oilfield services industry.

She began her career with Baker Hughes, working as a MWD operator and subsequently progressively more senior international positions in drilling, operations and sales, as well as support functions such as Business Development Manager, Country Manager, Managing Director and Vice President for Continental Europe as well as Vice President for Operations and Technical Support. Her last role at Baker Hughes was Corporate Vice President for Health, Safety and Environment before joining Maersk Drilling as Senior Vice President and COO in 2015.

Angela holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University in Braunschweig, Germany.

Marwan Moufarrej

Marwan Moufarrej

Non-Executive Director

Marwan joined the Board in December 2020, bringing 35 years of international experience with Schlumberger.

He started his career as a Wireline field engineer, eventually running the Wireline segment for the Middle East region before moving to the US where he led the transformation of the Measurement-While-Drilling business and managed the Integrated Productivity and Conveyance Engineering and Technology Center in Texas.

Marwan served as Vice-President of WesternGeco Onshore Seismic Acquisition before being appointed worldwide President of Integrated Project Management in 2011. In 2013 he moved back to Dubai to serve as President of the Middle East Area. During this time, he managed the integration of the Asian business into Schlumberger’s Middle East operations. He then became Senior Advisor for the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Schlumberger Limited, a position he held until he retired in June 2019.

Marwan has a degree in mechanical engineering from the American University of Beirut.

Salah Abdel Hadi Al Qahtani

Salah Abdel Hadi Al-Qahtani

Non-Executive Director

Mr. Salah A.H. Al-Qahtani has been a director of KCA Deutag Group since 2018 as part of the KCA Deutag Group’s combination with the KSA and Omani businesses of Dalma Energy.

He joined the business community in early 1995 as one of the Senior Executives of Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al-Qahtani & Sons (Group of Companies) (AHQ), a reputable and well recognised family conglomerate in Saudi Arabia, contributing with his skills to develop and expand the businesses of the family by playing a pivotal role as Vice Chairman of the AHQ group. The AHQ group consists of 27 companies serving the oil & gas industry, steel pipe manufacturing, pipe coating industries, water and chemicals, food supply items, heavy vehicles and machinery and a private airline. The AHQ group also holds a number of Joint Ventures in Saudi Arabia.

In 2007, Mr. Salah A.H. Al-Qahtani was a leading figure in the acquisition of Dalma Energy and was then involved directly with the management team to participate and run the business as Vice Chairman. Salah has a degree in business administration from the University of Houston, Texas, USA.

Marco Toninelli

Marco Toninelli

Saipem Appointed Director

Marco Toninelli has worked at Saipem SpA, the Italian oilfield services company, and its subsidiaries and associated companies since 1986. His career includes roles as senior vice president of assets at Saipem and senior vice president of real estate at EniServizi SpA, a facility management services company associated with ENI.

Marco is currently Chief Operating Officer for asset-based services at Saipem, focused on offshore drilling, engineering and construction. He has also been the CEO of Energy Maintenance Services in Italy and Chairman of E.R.S. b.v. (Holland), Moss Maritime (Norway) and SPCM Lda (Portugal) and member of the board of a number of companies associated with Saipem.