Regal exploration chief quits after five days

Regal Petroleum suffered a new setback in its efforts to shore up investor confidence yesterday, when its head of exploration quit the troubled oil company after just five days in the post.

Regal Petroleum suffered a new setback in its efforts to shore up investor confidence yesterday, when its head of exploration quit the troubled oil company after just five days in the post.

The resignation derails a management shake-up that was meant to reduce the influence of Regal's flamboyant chairman, Frank Timis, and which had been hurriedly announced as the company's shares nosedived last week.

Regal said it had failed to extract oil in commercial quantities from its most promising exploration work in Greece - less than a month after the company raised £45m to fund further work.

Christopher Green, a non-executive director since last month, agreed last week to step into an executive role as exploration director, but yesterday the company said he had changed his mind over the weekend and would leave the company altogether.

Mr Green, a prominent racehorse owner and former professor of geophysics at the University of St Andrews, is a seasoned oil industry executive, with 24 years at Shell, and was brought on to the Regal board at the time of the most recent fund raising to strengthen corporate governance checks.

His departure from the company did nothing to restore confidence in the prospects for Regal's portfolio of exploration assets, and sent the company's shares down a further 1p to 83.5p. Shareholders who bought into the placing have lost 79 per cent of their investment.

Mr Green "feels that he is unable to dedicate the time required of an executive member of the board", Regal said yesterday. A spokesman said he had indicated that he wished to spend more time with his wife, who is ill.

Mr Timis, whose colourful past includes fines for heroin and cannabis dealing and a string of other minor convictions, was in emergency meetings with institutional shareholders yesterday, attempting to shore up confidence.

He had made enthusiastic predictions for the Greek oilfield at the centre of the débâcle, which is estimated to contain 277 million barrels of oil but where drilling results suggest it will be difficult to extract oil in commercial quantities.

In an attempt to assuage criticism of his management style, he has agreed to split the roles of chief executive and chairman, becoming executive chairman only. He promised to appoint a chief executive and a head of exploration as soon as possible.