Executive Committee
Mr. Rigas is a founding shareholder of Energean Oil & Gas. He is a Petroleum Engineer with a combination of oil & gas and investment banking experience.
Prior to setting up Energean Oil & Gas, Mr. Rigas spent 18 years in investment banking and has experience in Private Equity investments in oil & gas, project finance and shipping. Between 2001 and 2007 Mr. Rigas set up, and became the Managing Partner of, Capital Connect Venture Partners, a Greek investment fund. From 1999 until 2001, Mr. Rigas managed Piraeus Bank’s Shipping Investment Banking division.
As Vice President of Shipping, Energy & Project Finance at Chase Manhattan Bank in London (1993-1999), Mr. Rigas arranged financing in excess of US$5 billion, mainly in the oil & gas sector.
He holds a Degree in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MSc / DIC Degree in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College.
Mr. Benos has extensive experience of working on international projects in the oil & gas sector, both in banking and industry, with a long track record of upstream financings in emerging markets.
He joined Energean from Standard Chartered Bank, where he worked as a Director in their London Oil & Gas team to deliver a number of significant projects and acquisitions in Africa, Asia and Middle East.
Mr. Benos previously worked for ConocoPhillips, where he held positions in European Treasury, North Sea Economics and International Downstream, with a focus on the North Sea, Central Europe and Middle East business. Mr. Benos began his career with Royal Bank of Scotland.
He is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) and holds an MSc in Shipping, Trade & Finance from Cass Business School.
Nick has been leading the commercialisation of Energean’s multi -tcf gas resources including the Karish and Tanin development in Israel since late 2016 while also developing and leading a number of other commercial and business development initiatives.
Following a 25 year career including senior commercial roles in international E&P companies, Nick built a successful practice advising a world-wide client base on sale and purchase agreements, upstream asset management, M&A, strategy and dispute resolution and arbitration.
Nick previously worked for Santos, BG Group, Star Energy plc, BHP Billiton plc and Centrica plc (formerly British Gas plc).
He holds a BEng (Hons) in Fuel & Energy Engineering from The University of Leeds.
Lily is Energean’s Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, heading its legal, compliance and corporate governance functions.
Prior to joining Energean, Lily held a senior role at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, specialising in cross border M&A, joint ventures and equity capital markets transactions, with a particular focus on the energy sector and a strong track record in the Greek and Israeli markets.
Lily has extensive experience in the industry, having previously advised major corporates, including BP, on several large-scale transactions.
She holds a Magister Juris degree from the University of Oxford, and is a qualified Solicitor in England and Wales.
Mr. Mastrantonis joined Energean in 2011 as Human Resources and Administration Director. From July 2016 until end 2017, he also served as the Managing Director and Country Manager of Energean Oil & Gas SA Greece and as a member of the board, while from April 2020 until September 2021 he also served as Greece's Country manager.
He manages HR and Admin, providing decision-making support and leadership along with management of business-critical, large-scale projects.
Mr. Mastrantonis obtained his business administration degrees (BA and MBA) from University of Staffordshire in the UK and an MSc in Human Resources Management from Athens University of Business and Economics.
Vassilis has been working in various leading positions of the E&P sector for more than 20 years, namely Electrical & Instrumentation Lead, Technical Services Lead, Engineering Lead, HSE Lead and HSE Regional Manager Greece and Adriatic. He is fully committed to delivering additional value to all projects through integrating Health Environmental and Safety in the entire chain of operations.
Vassilis is highly experienced in working in H2S environments, designing and implementing all necessary safety procedures. He is responsible for Energean’s climate change strategy and the policies to deliver Energean’s goal to become a net-zero emitter by 2050. He is certified as Head of Internal Inspections of ISO 9000/94 Quality Systems and as an IMO Port Facility Security Officer.
Vassilis holds a BEng and a MEng in Electrical Engineering from the Department of Electrical Engineering of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a MSc in “Technologies in Environmental Legislation” from the Department of Environmental Engineering of Democritus University of Thrace
Shaul Zemach is a leading Israeli Energy and Infrastructure expert, who joined Energean Israel when it was established.
Mr. Zemach served as Director General of the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources from 2009 to 2013 after acting as Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
Following the discovery of significant Israeli Natural Gas volumes in 2011, Mr. Zemach was appointed as Chairman of an inter-ministerial committee to examine government policy on the natural gas industry by the Israeli Prime Minister and the Minister of Energy. The Committee’s final report was approved by the Cabinet inJune 2013.
Mr. Zemach has served on Boards of Directors for several leading Energy and Financial corporations in Israel and numerous government-owned companies, including Israel Electric Corporation. He served as Acting Chairman of Israel Airport Authority Council (2006).
Mr. Zemach holds a BA in Economics and International Relations from the Hebrew University and a Masters in Public Policy from Tel Aviv University.
Nicolas Katcharov is CEO and Chairman of Energean International E&P SpA, Energean's, Country Manager in Egypt and Head of Energy Transition. He is also CEO and Chairman of EEES Ltd., an Energean subsidiary based in Cairo and specializing in energy efficiency and downstream developments, and well as Board Director at AbuQir Petroleum and Rashpetco .
Nicolas has over 30 years of extensive international experience in the energy sector, most of which as executive officer and board director in various companies operating in the fields of power and heat generation, distribution, services and, since 2017, in oil and gas exploration and production. He holds a degree in Electronics Engineering and is a Doctor of Science in Applied Physics (Hons) from the State University of Limoges, France.
He started his carrier in Gaz de France in Paris, before joining in succession EDF (France), Budapest Power Plants ZRt. (Hungary), Fenice SpA and Edison SpA (Italy).
Gaetano Annunziata is Energean's Country Manager in Italy.
Over the last 25 years, Mr. Annunziata has held/fulfilled several technical and managerial positions within Edison Group, both in Italy and abroad.
In the Oil & Gas upstream Company of Edison Group, he was Senior Vice President Operations Southern Europe in charge of full life cycle management of both onshore and offshore fields operated by EE&P in Italy and in Croatia.
Mr. Annunziata is also General Manager of Edison E&P and Chairman and Managing Director of Edison Idrocarburi Sicilia the Companies of Energean Group that run the business in Italy.
He serves on the council of “Assorisorse”, the Italian Petroleum and Mining Industry Association.
Prior to his leadership positions in Italy, he served as Chairman and General Manager of Ed-Ina. the JV Craotian-Italian Company (50% Energean - 50% Ina) which operates the offshore fields in the northern part of the Croatian Adriatic Sea.
Dr. Katerina Sardi claims 25 years of experience as an energy expert. She started her career in energy consulting in London working on coal gasification to synthesis gas for Hitachi. She joined the Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) in 2002 and in 2011 she became the Head of RAE’s Energy Planning and International Affairs Department. Since 2015 she has been working as an energy expert, advising companies and consortiums on implementation of the overall EU legal and regulatory energy framework and claims not only specialized but also cross-sectional understanding of all aspects of EU energy and climate policy.
Her scientific work has been published in archive journals, and presented in peer reviewed conferences. She has contributed into several prominent technical assistance projects in the EU, Egypt, Turkey and other countries. She has also been teaching postgraduate courses at Greek academic institutions for over a decade on topics related to climate change, emissions trading and numerical modelling of flows and turbulent combustion.
Katerina holds a Ph. D. in Fluid Mechanics and Natural Gas Combustion for Power Production, Mechanical Engineering Department, Imperial College, London and a Dipl. Eng. Mechanical Engineering Department, Artistotle University of Thessaloniki.