Black Lion’s executive management will adopt a close, hands-on approach to managing its assets. Eric Bosshard and Bessel van der Vliet have worked together for over 15 years and are very experienced in the management of oil & gas fields. Their skills and expertise are complementary and pertinent to the successful management of oil and gas assets for Black Lion. Both Eric and Bessel are entrepreneurial businessmen with extensive experience in contract negotiations, practical, hands-on delivery of projects and are strongly bottom-line driven.

Bessel is a resident of the USA and is based in Houston. He will head up Black Lion’s USA office and manage its day-to-day activities. Eric is based in the UK and will be in charge of driving the business development, maintain daily communications with Bessel and make frequent business visits to the USA.

Eric Bosshard  Ph.D., D.sc.nat ETH, DIC   (Managing Director)

Eric Bosshard was formerly an executive director of Carless Plc where he was responsible for the upstream business in the UK and US. In the UK he directed the development of the Humbly Grove oilfield onshore. In the USA he was chairman of the US subsidiary Carless Resources Inc., which produced oil and gas in Texas, Alabama and Ohio. He was instrumental in developing the company through acquisitions and creating a gas marketing business, which doubled the company’s revenues. Before that, Dr. Bosshard spent 12 years in employment with Shell International. He was recently Finance & Project Director of Vanguard Oil & Gas Developments Ltd, an independent UK company providing floating production solutions to the oil sector. He is now an independent oil and gas consultant in London.

Bessel van der Vliet   (USA  Executive Director)

A qualified mariner, Mr. van der Vliet was formerly a ship’s captain with Zapata Marine of Houston and then due to his successful drive for profitability, he became General Manager. Mid. East and SE Asia operations; Co-founder & M.D. with a nephew of the late Shah of Iran, of the very profitable Daryavand Shipping & Marine Company based in Tehran; General Manager. of Lamnalco Company in the Middle East, where, in his first year of tenure he ended 3 years of heavy losses and restored the Company to profitability and set the stage for global expansion; he also managed a joint venture with ADNOC in Abu Dhabi and doubled the profits within 2 years, before setting up his own agency company in the Middle East in the oil supply sector, securing many contracts from top supply companies and a 10 year contract for an FSO for Total ABK. Bessel then became a founder shareholder and Technical Development Director of Vanguard, delivering several of its projects. He is now an independent oil and gas consultant in Houston, Texas.

Tim Lyle  MA FCA  (Non executive Chairman)

Tim, a chartered accountant, has some thirty five years experience in investment banking covering financial engineering, venture capital, corporate advice, private and public capital raising and M&A, initially at County Natwest and later heading up a small bank in the City for a brief period. For the last twenty five years he has been advising and handling transactions as a founder partner of City & Merchant, building it to a company of over 20 employees involving corporate finance, fund management, IPOs and trading. In addition, Tim’s industrial experience includes a number of executive and non-executive directorships across a range of industries and sizes of business