45 years of international oil & gas experience.
Curtis Cohen brings 45 years of global oil and gas leadership — beginning at Esso Exploration Inc. (ExxonMobil) — spanning exploration, development, portfolio expansion, and executive operations across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
He began his career as Senior Exploration Geoscientist with Esso Exploration Inc (ExxonMobil), spending 15 years in Europe-Africa and the Far East Divisions in increasingly senior technical roles.These included exploration and drilling for Esso Exploration Inc in Spain, Turkey, Somalia and Nigeria as well as in ExxonMobil producing affiliates Esso Norway, Esso Australia, Esso REP (France), and in Strategic Planning in NJ Corporate HQ of Exxon Co International.
Curtis later led Thailand offshore exploration, appraisal and development for a decade as Chief Geophysicist for Pogo Producing Co (now Freeport-McMoRan), delivering discoveries totaling 500 million STBE, from ca. 500 wells, 36 platforms, an FPSO and FSO, quadrupling Pogo’s market cap to $3 billion.
He held senior commercial and technical leadership positions, including Global Business Development Manager for pre-IPO Terralliance Technologies Inc. Later, as Exploration Manager for TTI’s Argentina affiliate, Curtis led unconventional exploration in Neuquen in the Vaca Muerta shale, culminating in a later private transaction with ExxonMobil.
As Managing Director at Brittania-U Nigeria, he doubled proven reserves and production with the first horizontal well in Ajapa marginal field. As COO of Sahara Group, Upstream, he again doubled proven reserves and production with three new onshore Nigeria oil wells in his first year, and led exploration in offshore blocks in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and deepwater Nigeria, while securing major IOC wins in Total’s deepwater block auction and Shell’s OML 18 auction.
At Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Curtis was a Faculty Fellow, and since has published 24 professional papers.