The chief executive of the oil and gas company, Angus Energy, has a resigned, a statement said this morning.

The company said Richard Herbert had stepped down with immediate effect as CEO and as a director.

He held the chief executive’s post since 2023. Previously he was a senior executive at BP.

Today’s statement did not name a replacement.

The interim chairman, Krzysztof Zielicki, said:

“The Board would like to thank Richard for his dedication and hard work in taking the Company through what has been a transformative time in its development. He was responsible for the refinancing of the Company and has set Angus on the course for future growth. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours”

Angus Energy, which is listed on the junior AIM stock market, suspended share trading last month (May 2025).

This coincided with news of a possible reverse takeover of production assets off the southern USA and an announcement that Angus had missed a deadline for the first payment of its loan with Trafigura.

The loan payment date was extended to 31 May 2025 but Angus has not announced whether the payment was made.

Angus operates the UK’s largest onshore gas production site at Saltfleetby in Lincolnshire, as well as onshore oil sites at Balcombe and Lidsey in West Sussex and Brockham in Surrey.

The company recently fought off a legal challenge at Balcombe over planning permission for a well test.

DrillOrDrop interviewed Richard Herbert last year. He told us the UK onshore industry needed to raise money to plug and abandon hundreds of redundant oil wells as part of the energy transition. Interview transcript

Jonathan Tidswell-Pretorious

Today’s statement said the board was in “active discussions” with Jonathan Tidswell-Pretorius, a former Angus chair, about taking on the role of interim non-board chief operating officer.

Mr Tidswell-Pretorius resigned as chair in July 2018 after he was found to have breached the share dealing code.

His Linkedin profile states that he was Angus Energy’s operations director until August 2023.

From 2013-2016, he was executive director of Horse Hill Developments Limited, the Surrey oil site that is currently mothballed after its planning permission was quashed.

Mr Tidswell-Pretorius lists current roles as a part-time non-executive director of Challenger Resources plc and part-time chair of Rock Savage.