Alastair Beardsall

In 1980 Mr Beardsall started work with Schlumberger, the oil-field services company. From 1992 he began working for a series of independent oil companies, with increasing responsibility for specific exploration, development and production ventures. Between September 2003 and October 2009, he was Executive Chairman of Emerald Energy plc; Emerald grew, from a market capitalisation of less than £8 million, until in October 2009 Emerald was acquired by Sinochem Resources UK Limited, in a transaction that valued Emerald at £532 million.