PRIME Infrastructure Capital Inc. (Prime Infra) has appointed Sebastian Quiñones Jr. as the general manager of Prime Exploration Pte. Ltd. (Prime Exploration).

In a statement on Thursday, Prime Infra said Quiñones’ appointment bolsters the commitment of the company to strengthening its capabilities in the upstream industry as it awaits regulatory consent to acquire the shares of the Malampaya operator.

Quiñones is the former general manager and managing director of Shell Philippines Exploration B. V. (SPEX) and one of the first Filipino talents in SPEX to have been put at the helm of a world-class vital installation.

“With his deep industry expertise and unparalleled experience, I am confident that Mr. Quiñones will help ensure that a critical power asset is steered to further development and progress,” said Guillaume Lucci, Prime Infra president and chief executive officer.

Quiñones held various key positions in Shell for the past 41 years. From 2009 to 2016, he served as SPEX managing director and asset manager overseeing the upgrade of the Malampaya asset, which involved $1 billion for two new production wells, a depletion compression platform and upgrades at the Shallow Water Platform and On-Shore Gas Plant.

From 2013 to 2016, he was concurrently a member of the Board of directors of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.

Quiñones will remain active in several nongovernmental organizations, including the Pilipinas Shell Foundation, where he is executive director. He is also Chairman of the board of the League of Corporate Foundations, chairman of the board of Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, chairman of the board of ShellClub15Plus and a founding member of STEM Alliance Philippines.

He is a member of the Management Association of the Philippines where he was chairman and now vice chairman of the Energy Committee. He is also a corporate member of the NGO Kabalikat Para sa Maunlad na Buhay and vice chairman of the Governance and Membership Committee. He was elected to the Board of Energy Development Corp. in 2021 and serves as an independent director and chairman of the Board Health, Safety and Environment Committee.

He served in the Boards of First Philippine Industrial Corp. and Batangas Bay Carriers Inc. He was the oil and gas representative for the multisectoral group of Philippines Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, president of the Petroleum Association of the Philippines, a trustee of the Malampaya Foundation and a director of the British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.