Kai-Uwe Kessel
Chief Executive Officer

Kai-Uwe Kessel was appointed as a director of ZGL on 16 November 2007 and has served as chief executive of the partners participating in Zhaikmunai since November 2004. Since 2005, Mr Kessel has been Managing Director of Probel. From 2002 to 2005, Mr Kessel was director of Gaz de France’s North African E&P division. From 1992 to 2001, Mr Kessel was Managing Director of Erdgas Erdol GmbH, an oil and gas company owned by Gaz de France, and a member and chairman of the board of KazGermunai. Mr Kessel is a graduate of the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas.

Jan Laga
Deputy CEO

Jan Laga was appointed Deputy CEO on 1 January 2010. Mr. Laga has more than 20 years experience managing industrial groups. Prior to joining Zhaikmunai, Mr. Laga worked for Picanol, Berry Group, Ackermans & van Haaren and Koramic Industries. He has lived in PR China, South Korea and the USA and performed several long-term assignments in other countries. He has a master’s degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering from the University of Louvain (KUL) and an MBA from INSEAD Fontainebleau.

Jan Ru Muller
Group Chief Financial Officer

Jan-Ru Muller was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Zhaikmunai on 16 November 2007. Mr Muller has served in various capacities at Probel since 2000. He oversaw Zhaikmunai’s adoption of IFRS and the implementation of SAP. Mr Muller has been the managing director of Axio systems, an information technology company he founded in 1990. From 1988 through 1990 he worked with Andersen Consulting. He holds a BEng degree from Utrecht Municipal Institute of Technology and an MBA degree from University of Louvain (KUL).

Thomas Hartnett
Group General Counsel

Thomas Hartnett was appointed as Group General Counsel of Zhaikmunai in September 2008. Mr. Hartnett was previously a partner in the international law firm White & Case LLP, where he focused on cross border corporate and mergers and acquisitions transactions. He worked in the firm’s New York, Istanbul, London, Brussels and Bangkok offices over a 16-year period. Mr. Hartnett also served as Senior Corporate Counsel for Intercontinental Hotels Group from 1996 to 1998. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and New York University of Law and is a member of the New York Bar.

Vyacheslav Druzhinin
General Director

Viacheslav Druzhinin was appointed General Director of Zhaikmunai in 1997. Mr Druzhinin is a qualified Mining Engineer and has qualifications in exploration from the Polytechnical Institute, Tomsk, Russia and the USSR Ministry of Geology, and has also completed drilling engineer training at the Hughes Christensen Company, Houston, Texas. Prior to joining Zhaikmunai, Mr Druzhinin gained broad experience in mineral fields exploration technology and techniques working in various positions in the Field Development Department of KazakhGaz State Holding Company, State Holding Company ‘‘Zharyk’’ and VolkovGeologia KGGP.

Alexej Erber
Director of Geology

Alexei Erber was appointed as Director of Geology of Zhaikmunai in October 2007. Mr Erber has worked for Probel since 2005 and has a diploma in Geology and Geology Engineering from the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas and a degree in Mathematical Methods in Geology from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald. Prior to joining Zhaikmunai, Mr Erber gained experience in the geology and exploration departments of Erdol-Erdgas Gommern GmbH and Gaz de France.

Gudrun Wykrota
Financial Director

Gudrun Wykrota was appointed as Finance Director in April 2010. Ms. Wykrota has over 25 years of experience in finance with the majority spent working in Oil&Gas sector. Previously worked in senior management positions for Gazprom and Gaz de France Suez. Ms. Wykrota graduated as Mining Engineer Economist at Moscow Geological Exploration Institute.

Heinz Wendel
Director of Operations

Heinz Wendel was appointed as Operations Director of Zhaikmunai on January 1, 2012. Mr. Wendel has over 30 years of exploration and production experience, primarily as an oil and gas engineer. Prior to joining Zhaikmunai, Mr. Wendel served in various managerial and technical capacities with, among others, East German EEG (Erdöl-Erdgas Gormmerd) and GDF SUEZ E&P Deutschland in Germany, Poland, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Berik Brekeshev
Commercial Director

Berik Brekeshev was appointed Commercial Director of Zhaikmunai in January 2010. Mr. Brekeshev has almost 10 year experience in the oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan and Russia. He previously held senior positions with Starleigh Ltd, Talahasse Holdings Limited and JSC NNGRE, and commercial roles at Nelson Resources, Kazakhoil Aktobe, Buzachi Operating, Atlas Global Investment and Western-Siberian Drilling Company. Mr. Brekeshev is a native Kazakh speaker who also fluently speaks Russian, Turkish and English.

Jörg Pahl
Drilling Director

Joerg Pahl was appointed Chief Drilling Officer of Zhaikmunai in 2005. Mr Pahl has qualifications in drilling from the Technical School for Deep Drilling Techniques, Stralsund, Germany and qualifications in Drilling Technology and Fluid Mining from the Technical University, TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Mr Pahl also worked as a Scientific Assistant at the Institute of Drilling Technology and Fluid Mining at the Technical University, TU Bergakademie Freiberg during 1995 and 1996. Prior to joining Zhaikmunai, Mr Pahl gained experience in drilling working in various positions in the Drilling/Workover Technology Department at Erdgas Erdöl GmbH and the Operation and Production Department in the E&P Division of Gaz de France.