Company Founder

John P Doran
BSc, MSc, PhD, FAICD

Dr John Doran was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of ROC for the first eleven years of the company's existence. He passed away suddenly in June 2008.

Robert John Patrick Doran (John) was born in 1946 in Llanelli, Wales. He received a BSc (Hons) from Leicester University in 1967, an MSc in Palynology from Sheffield University in 1968 and a PhD in Geology from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1971.

Although a geologist first and foremost, John was also an astute and accomplished "oil man". He had more than 30 years experience in international oil and gas exploration and production, characterised by direct involvement with several corporate expansions, commercial discoveries and developments in various parts of the world including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the UK and Australia.

Discoveries and developments that John had been directly involved with include: the super giant Troll Gas Field in the Norwegian North Sea; the TAWN Field Complex, onshore New Zealand; the South East Gobe Field in the Papua New Guinea highlands; the Ravva Oil and Gas Field in the Bay of Bengal, offshore India; the Saltfleetby Gas Field, onshore UK; the Chinguetti Oil Field, offshore Mauritania; and the Cliff Head Oil Field, offshore Perth Basin, Australia.

John had been based in Australia since 1980, initially as Exploration Manager for Sydney Oil Company, a small Australian independent, before becoming Regional Vice President for the mid-sized US independent CMS Nomeco. In 1987, John initiated and managed the merger of Nomeco's Australian exploration assets with Australian-listed Command Petroleum. John was Managing Director of Command Petroleum until 1996, when he managed the sale of Command to UK-listed Cairn Energy.

Immediately following the sale of Command Petroleum, John established ROC in late 1996. For a brief period, ROC was a start-up company with no assets, no partners, no working capital and John as CEO with a business card that declared him as the "Only Employee" (this was not applicable for long). For the next two years ROC was a private company, with John and his growing staff assessing potential opportunities in India, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, parts of Africa, the Middle East and the UK. ROC listed on the ASX in 1999 and completed an initial public offering to raise A$150 million. These funds allowed ROC to acquire the Saltfleetby gas field in Lincolnshire and to build an international portfolio, growing ROC into the company it is today.

John's sensibly contrarian enthusiasm, passion, idiosyncrasies and charm played an enormous part in ROC's growth since its foundation. John was a treasured friend, respected colleague, mentor and leader.