NEW YORK, February 11 /PRNewswire/ --

Touradji Capital Management, LP ("Touradji Capital"), a leading commodities investment firm, today announced that Mark Lyons has joined the firm as a Shipping and Oil specialist. He will be based in the firm's newly established office in Singapore with the aim of further growing the company's business in Asia. His appointment is effective immediately.

Mr. Lyons will examine shipping opportunities in the futures market, public and private equities as well as trading energy products. Mr. Lyons' unique experience in oil and shipping, both physical and paper, will enable the firm to further develop its edge in these areas.

"We are pleased to have Mark on board, and we're particularly excited about opening an office in Singapore," stated Paul Touradji, Founder and Managing Partner of Touradji Capital. "Asia is a very important market for us and opening an office in Singapore will provide a base from which we'll be able to expand our research and investment. Mark is an industry expert with a very extensive background. He began his career as a refinery engineer, moved to trading crude and refined products and then applied this expertise to the crude shipping markets. Mark's unique skills and knowledge will complement our already strong investment team," Mr. Touradji concluded.

Mr. Lyons spent nine years at Chevron, initially as a Chemical Engineer at the Pembroke refinery specializing in business and planning, then worked as a crude trader at the firm's London office. After Chevron, Mr. Lyons joined RWE Trading helping to establish RWE as a recognized oil trading group where he specialized in oil arbitrage and FFA trading. In 2004 Mr. Lyons became a Partner at Navig8, a firm that operates across the shipping value chain with its core expertise in oil products. Mr. Lyons graduated from Loughborough University of Technology with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He is a Chartered Chemical Engineer.

About Touradji Capital Management, LP

Touradji Capital Management, LP is a commodities-focused asset management firm with more than US$3 billion in assets under management. The firm invests in commodities and commodity-related equities with a fundamental approach to analysis and investment in commodities.

Steve Bruce, or Shawn Pattison, or Monica Everett, all of The Abernathy MacGregor Group for Touradji Capital Management, LP, +1-212-371-5999