Simon Ashton joins WellDog board of directors
Strategic investor has track record of building successful oil and gas service companies
WellDog announced today that its new strategic investor, Simon Ashton, has joined the company’s board of directors. Ashton’s company ProX Pty Ltd led a $5,000,000 debt and equity financing round recently closed by the company.
“In a 30 year career in the energy industry, Simon has built an outstanding reputation as a successful oil and gas services entrepreneur and investor,” said John M. Pope, Ph.D., president and CEO of WellDog. “He has direct experience in the international oil and gas markets in which WellDog operates, he understands our technical services intimately, and he complements our entrepreneurial yet pragmatic approach to business. It’s a pleasure to welcome him to the WellDog board.”
Ashton played a significant role in the 1992 US$100 million management buyout and subsequent 1995 US$250 million public listing and growth of The Expro Group, a UK-based global oilfield services company. He subsequently founded, or participated in at Director level, a series of successful oil and gas service companies including Seatrac (a Perth-based subsea engineering and well intervention company that was sold to Well Ops in 2007 for in excess of $25 million), Production Testers International (a Bangkok-headquartered early production, well testing and well uplift company sold to The Expro Group in 2010 for in excess of $100 million), and ProXoilfield (an Australian-based well services and equipment rental company). He is currently a principal of Black Diamond International, an innovative, niche well intervention company focusing on the Asia Pacific & the Middle East regions, encompassing coiled tubing, micro coil, wireline and radial jet drilling services based in Singapore.
“WellDog is an exciting and unique niche technology company with tremendous growth prospects across the coal seam methane and coal mining market segments” said Simon Ashton. “I hope to be able to contribute at the board and strategic level to the creation of a dynamic and fast growing company that meets or exceeds our client’s needs in this very specialist service business.”
Ashton will join the board of directors of Gas Sensing Technology Corp., a U.S. corporation that operates as WellDog and that has a fully-owned Australian subsidiary WellDog Pty Ltd.
