Friends, family and colleagues pay tribute to a dear friend of Prodrill’s

Friends, family and fellow colleagues today (Monday, September 12, 2011) pay tribute to oil and gas industry figurehead, John Graham Burgess, (known as Graham) following his sudden passing overseas on Saturday, August 27^th, 2011, aged 57.

Graham, a well known and respected member of the oil and gas industry had contributed over 40 years to his profession. He joined the oil industry in the 70's after gaining a BSC in Geology from University of Edinburgh, and went on to work for several of the industry’s majors including, Bariod, Texaco North Sea, Premier Oil Plc, Global Marine and Star Energy. Latterly, Graham became Co-Founder and CEO of Sovereign Oilfield Group.

Graham was also a Director and Shareholder of Prodrill Energy Resource Solutions, contributing his expertise and advice throughout. He played an instrumental part during the purchase of Prodrill from KCA Deutag in 2004, and subsequently lent his support as Prodrill underwent ownership changes in 2009.

Throughout the years Graham lived in many places around the globe, and had particularly loved the time he spent in Thailand with his family in the early 90's. In his spare time he was also very passionate about farming, owning a livestock farm on the outskirts of Aberdeen. Graham had applied his enthusiastic vision here too, having been in the process of establishing a self-sufficient power supply for the farm by erecting wind turbines.

Graham was a dedicated father to Amy and Ali, and a well known local resident of the Aberdeenshire town of Banchory where he spent many happy times with his family and friends.

Louise Wood, Managing Director of Prodrill comments, “Graham had a real affinity to Prodrill and what we wanted to achieve. He helped us through some huge steps along the way and became a dear friend to many of us. His contribution, entrepreneurial flair and vision will be sorely missed by everyone at Prodrill and everyone who knew him both on a professional and a personal level.”

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