Our Team

Matt Lofgran has wide experience of business development in the energy, real estate and communications sectors. Prior to becoming CEO of Nostra Terra, he was with Robson Energy, LLC, latterly as Vice President of International Business Development. In this capacity, he launched the oil and gas, field services and coal divisions, and was responsible for extending Robson Energy's activities into Mexico. Matt holds a Bachelor of Business Management degree from the University of Phoenix and a Global MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is also a Director of Elephant Oil Limited.

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Mr Welch is an international energy executive with over 30 years of industry experience having worked for Shell Oil Company and several large independents including Hunt Oil Company, Pioneer Natural Resources. Mr. Welch was CEO of AIM listed explorer Chariot Oil and Gas
(2009-2012) and CEO of Sea Dragon Energy (2013-2015) in April 2013 and became a CEO of SDX Energy (2015-2019) following the merger with Madison PetroGas in October 2015. He was subsequently appointed to his present position of CEO of Cosimo Holding Ltd in 2019. Mr. Welch was also appointed Chairman of ACP Energy PLC in 2022. Mr. Welch graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with Bachelor and Master's degrees in Petroleum Engineering. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas.

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Dr Staley has more than 35 years’ of management and technical experience in the European, African and Asian oil, gas and power sectors, including with Conoco and BP. More recently Dr Staley was founding Managing Director of upstream start-ups Fastnet Oil & Gas plc and Independent Resources plc and a Non-Executive Director of Cove Energy plc.  He is a Fellow of the Geological Society, holds a BSc (Hons.) in Geophysics from Edinburgh University, a PhD in Petroleum Geology from Sheffield University and an MBA from Warwick University.

Dr Staley has over 35 years wide-ranging management, technical and commercial experience in the international oil, gas and power sectors. He was until October 2019 the CEO and a director of Upland Resources Limited, a London-listed (Standard Listing) oil & gas company which he co-founded, currently with assets in Tunisia and onshore and offshore UK. He is a non-executive director of 88 Energy Limited, an Australian oil & gas company with assets onshore Alaska. 88 Energy has a dual listing on the ASX and AIM. He is also a non-executive director of Predator Oil & Gas Holdings PLC, a London-listed (Standard Listing) oil & gas company with acreage in Trinidad, Morocco and offshore Ireland. Dr Staley co-founded and brought to the AIM market both Fastnet Oil & Gas plc (where he was the founding CEO) and Independent Resources plc (where he was the founding managing director). He was also both a technical consultant to, and non-executive director of, Cove Energy plc – the highly successful East Africa focused explorer. Dr Staley is owner and founder of Derwent Resources Limited, an upstream consultancy advising on oil and gas opportunities. Prior to this he has worked for companies including Cinergy Corp. and Conoco.

He holds a BSc (Hons.) in geophysics from Edinburgh University, a PhD in petroleum geology from Sheffield University and an MBA from Warwick University. He is a fellow of the Geological Society and a member of the European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain and The Arctic Club.

John Stafford has 35 years’ experience in the oil & gas industry and is a geoscientist, with specialist expertise in oil field development and reserve certification and reporting. Previous roles include Vice President of Operations at Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited, a position he held from May 2014 to January 2017, having joined that company as Manager, Geology & Geophysics in early 2009. 

John has worked with well-known companies in the oil and gas industry, such as ECL, Schlumberger and PGS, managing projects in integrated field management and all aspects of reserves certification and reporting. This includes the production of Competent Persons Reports. John has further experience of fractured reservoir development and risk management.

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