Roc Oil CEO John Doran dies after short illness
PERTH, June 30 (Reuters) - Roc Oil Ltd's (ROC.AX) founder and chief executive John Doran died last Friday after a sudden illness, the Australian energy firm said in a statement on Monday.
Roc's chief operating officer Bruce Clement will take charge on a temporary basis, overseeing the progress of the group's proposed takeover of Anzon Australia AZA.AX.
"We are still going to proceed with the Anzon takeover and there will be no changes in Roc Oil's strategy in the near term. We will continue to focus on our exploration campaign in Angola and worldwide," Clement said.
Doran, 62, founded Roc Oil in 1997 and the firm was listed in 1999. He was widely credited for its transformation from a junior exploration company into a mid-sized oil and gas producer, whose market value peaked at over A$1.3 billion ($1.25 billion) in 2006.
Under Doran's leadership, Roc was one of the first companies to explore in Angola's oil-rich Cabinda region after three decades of bloody separatist insurrection in the west African country.
Earlier this month, Doran engineered a A$610 million takeover bid for rival Anzon Australia, becoming the third company to make an offer for the company in the past year.
The deal would boost Roc Oil's reserves to about 47 million barrels of oil equivalent, up from around 20 million.
Shares in Roc Oil, which has a market value of about A$500 million, fell 1.8 percent to A$1.68 by 0225 GMT. Its shares have declined about 47 percent this year on disappointing results from exploration in Mauritania. ($1=A$1.04) (Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by James Thornhill)
