Neil was appointed Spirit Energy's CEO at the beginning of February 2022, having joined the company in March 2018.

Under Neil’s leadership, his priorities are to position Spirit Energy as a leading energy transition company, whilst creating value for shareholders. Spirit Energy has a clear strategy of safely delivering production from its existing assets, meeting and de-risking its decommissioning obligations, and pursuing strategic energy transition opportunities from its assets, with its world-leading MNZ carbon capture project.

Previously appointed as Executive Vice President Technical & Operated Assets, Neil led the delivery of Spirit's capital investment programme and decommissioning activities and was also accountable for the company's technical functions and its operated assets and production.

Neil is passionate about nurturing and developing a diverse, inclusive and welcoming workplace at Spirit, enabling it to continue driving innovation and performance.

A chartered engineer with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, and with a Masters with Distinction in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt, Neil is no stranger to Spirit Energy’s assets, having started his career as a Graduate Trainee Petroleum Engineer working on its facilities in the East Irish Sea.

Since then, his career has taken him around the world. Before joining Spirit Energy, Neil was the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director for EnQuest Plc and previously held the position of SVP, Engineering and Production, at OMV in Vienna. For 11 years, he held asset and functional general management roles at BG Group Plc, including a ‘nation and company-building’ experience, managing daily production of around 0.5 million barrels from multiple mega projects in Egypt.

Neil has held several external assignments. As well as being Operator Co-Chair of Offshore Energies UK, he is also a member of the North Sea Transition Steering Group and a Fellow of the Energy Institute. Previously, he held the role of Chair of the Decommissioning and Repurposing Task Force (DaRT) and was a non-Executive Director of the Net Zero Technology Centre.