Thor Energy PLC (AIM:THR, OTCQB:THORF, ASX:THR) has appointed Andrew Hume as managing director, bringing experience from Shell and TotalEnergies as the company enters the nascent natural hydrogen sector.
He will be based in Perth, Western Australia, and will also sit on the group board.
A geologist with an executive MBA from Cambridge, Hume comes with 27 years' experience in the energy sector, having most recently worked at Maersk Oil and Gas, where he steered strategy and performance across exploration and appraisal, and then following its acquisition by TotalEnergies, he worked on regional strategy, planning, business development, leading joint ventures and managing a decarbonisation and renewables project.
Before that, he worked in geosciences, drilling, asset management and portfolio growth at Thales Group, Shell and Murphy Oil Corp.
Thor's executive chairman, Alastair Clayton, welcomed Hume's "outstanding track record in the oil and gas industry worldwide".
"Thor has recently entered the nascent natural hydrogen sector via the soon-to-close Go Exploration acquisition thereby giving it control of one of only four granted hydrogen licences in South Australia.
"Andrew's business leadership and technical skills in oil and gas are directly applicable to natural hydrogen exploration and development and will therefore be key in driving the business forward.
"With a prospective resource for hydrogen and helium expected to be completed by leading independent industry consultants RISC soon, it is particularly satisfying to be able to cement the executive leadership to take Thor forward."
As part of his contract, the company has agreed to issue Hume with 45,000 options as an incentive and shareholder alignment, focused on share price performance over two, three and four years.