Speakers

Armed with his Civil Engineering degree from University College Dublin, Irishman Tim O’HANLON joined Schlumberger which served as his earliest introduction to the Oil Business. Following post-graduate studies in Reservoir Engineering at Imperial College London, he became a member of the founding team of Irish start-up Tullow Oil in the mid 1980’s. From the outset, this exciting and ambitious explorer/producer focused on Africa, operating oil and gas opportunities that had proven non-commercial for the IOC Majors. During these early years at Tullow, Tim lived in Senegal heading up the company’s onshore, oil & gas, production business cash-cow, splitting his time between wearing coveralls/hard-hat and a suit/tie. Thereafter, as Vice President for Africa, Tim was central to Tullow’s rapid expansion across the Mother Continent involving ground-floor licence negotiations, the velvet acquisitions of Energy Africa and Hardman and finally Tullow’s fabled frontier exploration of some of Africa’s most remote interior basins. During these years Tim was more likely to be found in the Ministerial waiting rooms of Brazzaville or Bujumbura than at Tullow HQ or the oil company data rooms of Houston or London. Over the course of Tim’s 33 years at the company - during which he was widely known as “Tullow’s Monsieur Afrique” - Tim has visited all but one of Africa’s 54 countries (Djibouti) and negotiated with dozens of Africa’s Heads of State. Since retiring from Tullow in 2020, Tim has been advising Africa-focused explorer/producer Panoro Energy on its growth ambitions across the Continent as well as being involved with start-ups in the African power, logistics and forestry sectors.