Dallas-based Dresser makes executive changes with Woltil, Nattier

Woltil served as CFO of Sun Healthcare Group Inc. and held numerous senior management positions, including CFO, with Beverly Enterprises Inc. Both companies are multi-billion dollar, publicly-held providers of health care. Most recently, Woltil has been a partner with Tatum Partners LLP, a nationally recognized financial and information technology consulting firm, and since July has assisted Dresser in this capacity.

Nattier was named executive vice president and CFO in March 2002 and had previously held numerous other management positions within the company and its predecessors, including executive vice president and chief administrative officer and vice president of an operating division. Dresser established the corporate ethics and compliance position, reporting to the CEO and the chairman of the audit committee of the board of directors in March 2005. Nattier replaces Arthur T. Downey, who had been appointed to the position on an interim basis.

Dresser, headquartered in Dallas, is a worldwide designer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly engineered equipment and services sold primarily to customers in the flow control, measurement systems, and compression and power systems segments of the energy industry. Dresser has more than 8,500 employees and a sales presence in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Harvest Natural Resources elects Edmiston president, CEO; Dunn is senior VP

Houston-based Harvest Natural Resources has elected James A. Edmiston as president and CEO. This follows the retirement of Dr. Peter J. Hill, who will remain on Harvest’s board. Edmiston has been with Harvest since September 2004 when he was named executive vice president and COO. Before joining Harvest, Edmiston was with Conoco and ConocoPhillips for 22 years in various management positions, including stints in Venezuela, Russia, and the Middle East. He holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Texas Tech University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

In related news, the company’s board has elected Byron A. Dunn as senior vice president of corporate development. Dunn joined National-Oilwell Inc., an oilfield products and services company, as vice president of business development and served as chairman of the board of TTS Marine ASA, a National-Oilwell investee company, and as acting president of Rig Solutions Eastern Hemisphere. Prior to his service at National-Oilwell, Dunn was executive director in the global energy and power investment banking group of UBS Investment Bank. He also has five years’ operational experience in the oil and gas industry on assignments for Chevron USA. Dunn earned a BS degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Harvest Natural Resources is an independent energy company engaged in the development and production of oil and gas since 1989. Operations are primarily conducted in eastern Venezuela.

Charles Sharp to cover UK companies as analyst for Jefferies International

London-based Jefferies International Ltd., a subsidiary of US-based Jefferies Group Inc., has hired Charles Sharp, who joins as a senior equity research analyst in the firm’s global energy research practice. Sharp will be based in Jefferies’ London office and will follow established and emerging E&P companies based in the UK.

This addition follows the recent establishment of a UK research sales effort and is complementary to the equity research efforts in energy by its US affiliate, Jefferies & Co. Inc. The firm’s overall research effort in the energy sector now includes eight senior equity analysts worldwide. The company’s overall commitment to this sector also encompasses securities trading, with four dedicated traders, and full-service investment banking capabilities, which were augmented in February with the firm’s acquisition of Randall & Dewey, an M&A advisor in the global oil and gas industry.

Sharp has more than 20 years’ experience in the E&P industry. He joins the company from Cannacord Capital, an investment dealer, where he spent eight years as an equity research analyst covering small- and mid-cap UK and Canadian E&P companies. Before that, he handled software sales and marketing for Sierra Geophysics. Prior to that, he was a seismic interpreter and processing analyst for both Texas Eastern North Sea Inc. and Britoil. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Southampton University and an MBA from San Diego State University.

Earl Gould to manage GAMCO energy fund

GAMCO Investors Inc. has named Earl V. Gould, CFA, portfolio manager of the GAMA Select Energy+ Fund, a long/short private partnership focused on the energy sector. Mario Gabelli, CEO of GAMCO, said, “Earl is one of the savviest investors in the oil patch. His investment experience and proven research talent will serve our investors in GAMA Select Energy.”

Gould’s investment career spans over 40 years. He began as a trader at European American Bank following his graduation from the University of Alberta in 1964. He later joined Bache & Co. as an analyst and subsequently became a senior investment analyst with Security Pacific Bank.

Gould later joined the pension department of Atlantic Richfield where he covered the energy sector. He was promoted to portfolio manager where he ran $500 million prior to being named managing director of international equities for ARCO Investment Management Co. (AIMCO). He retired from ARCO prior to its acquisition by British Petroleum. Gould holds an MA degree in economics from City College in New York.

GAMCO Investors, through its subsidiaries, manages about $28 billion in assets of private advisory accounts (GAMCO), mutual funds and closed-end funds (Gabelli Funds LLC), and partnerships and offshore funds (Investment Partnerships).

Bilsland new CFO, Mackay is senior VP of Stratic Energy

Stratic Energy Corp. has named Mark Bilsland as CFO and promoted Tom Mackay to senior vice president, technical. Both individuals will stand for election to the board of directors of the company at its next general meeting in April 2006.

Bilsland has experience in the oil industry with British National Oil Corp., Enterprise Oil PLC, and Khanty Mansiysk Oil Corp. (KMOC). At Enterprise he held senior positions as project evaluation manager, general manager, Australia, and as head of corporate planning for the group. He then moved to COO of KMOC, a US corporation with oil and gas production in western Siberia. He was responsible for operational and financial management. Since 2003, Bilsland has acted as a financial consultant to a number of companies with interests in Russia. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nottingham and a PhD in petroleum engineering from Imperial College, London.

Tom Mackay has been Stratic’s general manager since 2002 and has helped build the company’s existing portfolio, in particular, its interests in the Akcakoca basin in the Turkish Black Sea, resulting in four successful wells over the last 15 months. His career has spanned 25 years with such companies as Shell, Clyde Petroleum, and Gulf Canada. Prior to joining Stratic, Mackay was a petroleum consultant. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Durham University.

Stratic is an international oil and gas company with interest in Africa, the Middle East, and the North Sea. Stratic has offices in Calgary and London.

Rynd named president of Hercules Drilling; Tom Seward retires

Houston-based Hercules Offshore LLC, a jack-up drilling and liftboat contractor in the Gulf of Mexico, has named John T. Rynd as senior vice president of Hercules Offshore and as president of Hercules Drilling, its wholly owned offshore drilling subsidiary. This comes as Tom Seward, one of the founders of Hercules Drilling Co., retires as president after many years.

Rynd joins Hercules with more than 25 years’ drilling industry experience. Most recently, he was vice president of Noble Drilling Services Inc., primarily responsible for investor relations for Noble Corp. Before that he served as vice president of marketing and contracts. Prior to joining Noble he held management positions at Chiles Offshore and worked for Rowan Drilling Co. Rynd is a graduate of Texas A&M University.

Hercules Offshore owns a fleet of eight jack-up drilling rigs and 39 liftboats. Through its two operating subsidiaries, Hercules Drilling Co. and Hercules Liftboat Co., the company offers a range of services to oil and gas producers to meet their needs during drilling, well service, platform inspection, maintenance, and decommissioning operations in shallow waters. Hercules Offshore was formed in July 2004 with equity capital from Lime Rock Partners, a private equity firm based in Westport, Conn., and additional equity capital from Greenhill Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in New York.

Devon Energy promotes Terry Shyer to VP, planning and evaluation

Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. has named Terry L. Shyer the new vice president of planning and evaluation. He will be responsible for all aspects of the planning process, including coordination of asset acquisitions and divestitures, and the reserves, budgeting and portfolio management processes. Shyer joined Devon in 2000 following the merger with Santa Fe Snyder Corp. He was manager of operations for Devon’s central division. Before that he served as operations supervisor for the company’s Rocky Mountain division. He began his career as an operations engineer with Amoco and has held various engineering and supervisory positions in the industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from the University of Illinois. Devon Energy is an independent energy company engaged in oil and gas exploration, production, and property acquisitions.

Barnabus Energy names David Saltman president and CEO

Barnabus Energy Inc. has appointed David P. Saltman president and CEO. A native Californian, Saltman is a graduate of UCLA’s Annenberg School of Communication. He has participated in the president’s advisory council that created environmental purchasing guidelines for the federal government and is the recipient of several awards from the American Marketing Association for his work on sustainable technologies. Recently appointed to the board to oversee the advisory committee, Saltman comes to Barnabus from his position as a senior executive at BioComposites International, a producer of natural fiber-reinforced plastics. Kerry Nagy, who will resign as president, remains with the company in the role of interim financial officer.

Barnabus Energy, based in Carlsbad, Calif., is involved in developing oil and gas opportunities in North America as well as undertaking the acquisition of technologies in the renewable energy field. The company’s primary O&G interests are in southern Alberta.

Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo joins EnerGulf to advise on African affairs

Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo has joined EnerGulf Resources Inc. He will serve as senior advisor for African affairs. Toivo Ya Toivo has been an African leader in the fight for freedom and democracy for over 45 years. In Namibia, he has served as minister of mines and energy, minister of labor, and minister of prisons and correctional services.

Toivo Ya Toivo was a founding member of the Southwest African Peoples Organization (SWAPO), and served as its secretary general. SWAPO was the organization that led the struggle for the independence of Namibia and is today’s majority political party in Namibia. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison by the South African government for his political beliefs demanding freedom and independence for his county. He served 18 years with his fellow freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela. After Namibia’s independence in 1990, he was elected to Parliament.

EnerGulf Resources is a publicly traded international oil and gas E&P company with offices in Houston and Vancouver.

Maverick Oil and Gas elects Preng and Rucigaj to its board of directors

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Maverick Oil and Gas Inc. has appointed David Preng and Andrej Rucigaj to its board of directors. Preng has served as CEO and president of Preng and Associates, an international executive search firm specializing in the oil and gas industry, since 1980. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of Remington Oil and Gas Inc., a publicly held oil and gas company, as well as the Houston chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Community National Bank, Texas A&M University International Board, and is a fellow for the Institute of Directors. He holds a BS degree in business administration from Marquette University and an MBA from DePaul University.

Rucigaj has worked as a manager in the investment and finance fields for the last 10 years with a focus on the energy sector. Since 2001, he served as an investment manager of Aktiva Group, an Amsterdam-based private investment fund. Aktiva is controlled by one of the principal beneficiaries of Line Trust Corp. Ltd., a principal shareholder of Maverick. From 1994-2001, he worked as an officer of Arkada, an investment fund in Slovenia. Rucigaj holds a BS degree from ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and an MBA from INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration.

Donald Rice to serve on board of directors at Chevron Corp.

Chevron Corp. has elected Donald B. Rice to its board of directors. Rice was a member of Unocal Corp.’s board until the recent acquisition by Chevron. He also serves on the board of Amgen Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., and Vulcan Materials Co. He is a trustee of the RAND Corp. and chairman of the board of governors of the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Rice is chairman, CEO, president, and co-founder of Agensys Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in cancer treatments. He co-founded the company with a team of University of California, Los Angeles oncologists and cancer scientists.

Prior to Agensys, Rice was president and COO of Teledyne Inc. and served as secretary of the US Air Force. He was president of CEO of the RAND Corp. and served as assistant director of the Office of Management and Budget in the White House.

Rice holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and received a master’s degree and doctorate from Purdue University. He has earned five honorary doctorates.

Chevron Corp., based in San Ramon, Calif., conducts business in about 180 countries around the world. The company produces and transports crude oil and natural gas, and refines, markets, and distributes fuels and other energy products. Chevron employs more than 53,000 people worldwide.

ConocoPhillips elects new director, declares quarterly dividend

The board of directors of ConocoPhillips has elected Harold McGraw III as a new outside director. The election increases the total number of directors to 15 - 14 of whom are outside directors. McGraw is chairman, president, and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies, a global information services company. He was elected president and COO in 1993, CEO in 1998, and chairman in 1999. He has been a member of the board since 1987. McGraw also serves on the board of United Technologies and is a member of The Business Council. He is the chairman of the Business Roundtable’s International Trade and Investment Task Force and chairman of the Emergency Committee for American Trade. He also served as a member of President George W. Bush’s Transition Advisory Committee on Trade.

The board also declared a quarterly dividend of 31 cents per share. The dividend is payable Dec. 1, 2005, to stockholders of record. ConocoPhillips is an integrated petroleum company with interests around the world.

Peter Carwardine hired as consultant to Energy Exploration Technologies

Energy Exploration Technologies Inc. (NXT) has retained Peter A. Carwardine as a business consultant to the company’s North American operations. His duties will include pursuing new survey contracts utilizing NXT’s proprietary Stress Field Detection airborne survey system and the marketing of existing and future oil and gas prospects identified by NXT in North America.

Carwardine holds a BBA degree from the University of Texas and brings 30 years of oil and gas operational, business, and land management experience to the company. He is the president of Baycrest Energy Ltd., a private oil and gas consulting firm. Carwardine was previously a member of the executive team responsible for building Encal Energy Ltd. into a senior producer listed on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange until its sale in 2001.

In 2002 he was appointed president, CEO, and director of Virtus Energy Ltd., a Calgary-based emerging oil and gas E&P company with operations in western Canada. He was aided in the growth and development of Virtus from a production base of 30 boe/d to 800 boe/d with an inventory of 20 undrilled locations in northeastern British Columbia and Alberta. Virtus was sold in June of 2005.

Carwardine has been involved in the utilization of NXT’s proprietary SFD survey system since 1997. He helped in the development of the airborne SFD survey system and has managed a number of SFD projects both at Encal and Virtus.

Empire names Ballantyne as an independent member of its board of directors

Tad Ballantyne, CEO of Hoopeston Foods Inc., has accepted the appointment as an independent member of the board of directors of Empire Energy Corp. He will serve until the next annual meeting. Ballantyne is an officer and director of several private companies including BR Industries Inc., Hoopeston Foods Inc., Thomsen Inc., Jilin Jimei Foods, and other companies engaged in the manufacturing and processing industries, as well as real estate acquisition and development. He has been in the business of acquiring and operating troubled companies or assets being divested by public and private companies on a global basis. He has been both an officer and director of two public companies previously engaged in the oil and gas business on the production and refining side. Ballantyne holds a BS degree in business management from the University of Wisconsin.

Quicksilver Resources adds Cook, promotes energy veterans Buckler, Duncan

Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. has appointed Philip W. Cook as senior vice president and CFO. Bill Lamkin, who is retiring, will work with Cook during a short transition period. Cook gained experience in the oil and gas industry while serving as vice president, controller, and chief information officer of Burlington Resources. Before that, he spent nine years in public accounting with Coopers & Lybrand. Most recently, he was the president of EcoProduct Solutions, a Houston-based company.

Quicksilver has also promoted William S. Buckler III to vice president of US operations and Kevin Duncan as operations manager of the Forth Worth basin. Buckler joined Quicksilver in September 2003 as engineering manager for the Barnett shale operations in north Texas. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry. He previously worked for Mitchell Energy Co., which later merged with Devon Energy Operating Co. Duncan joined Quicksilver in November 2004 and brings nearly 20 years of experience with him. He worked previously for Encore Acquisition Co. and Range Resources Corp.

Quicksilver is a natural gas and crude oil production company engaged in the development and acquisition of natural gas and crude oil properties. The company develops and produces unconventional natural gas reserves, including coalbed methane, shale gas, and tight sands gas. Quicksilver has US offices in Fort Worth; Granbury, Tex.; Gaylord, Mich.; Corydon, Ind.; and Cut Bank, Mont. The company also has a Canadian subsidiary, MGV Energy Inc., in Calgary.

Ignis Petroleum Group welcomes Gittelman, Stein to board of advisors

Joseph Gittelman has joined the advisory board of Ignis Petroleum Group Inc. as exploration advisor, and Frederick Stein has come on board as operations advisor. Gittelman has more than 35 years of international experience in oil and gas exploration, development, and operations. He enjoyed a 27-year career with Shell Oil Co., serving in a variety of senior technical, operational, and management capacities. His leadership positions within the Shell organization included: general manager of geophysics, general manager of exploration, and general manager of exploration and production research. He also served as general manager of Shell Western Exploration & Production where he was responsible for managing Shell’s domestic lower 48 onshore and Alaska exploration programs. Gittelman also served as president of Danlier Inc., a specialized consulting firm that provides services to exploration companies and institutional investors. He holds a BS degree from the University of Pennsylvania, an MS from New York University, and a PhD from the University of Michigan.

Stein is a petroleum engineer and operations manager with more than 35 years’ experience in senior-level management within Shell Oil and Pennzoil/Devon Energy. He developed and ran oil and gas fields both onshore and offshore in both domestic and international arenas. At Shell, his responsibilities ranged from production, reservoir, drilling, and petrophysical engineering, to direct management of drilling and field operations. During a 10-year tenure with Pennzoil/Devon, Stein had both technical and operations management responsibilities over a variety of international projects in more than a dozen countries, the largest being the Chirag/Azeri field in Azerbaijan. His areas of expertise include drilling and production operations management, oil and gas transportation design, and negotiations. Stein graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin. Ignis Petroleum Group Inc. is a Dallas-based oil and gas company.

OpenSpirit expands presence in Brazil, adds Carlos Belem

To meet the growing needs of upstream E&P companies based and working in Brazil, OpenSpirit Corp. has signed Carlos Eiffel Arbex Belem, principal of IES Brazil Consultoria, as its local representative.

Belem has extensive experience with geoscience and IT solutions for the E&P industry. He launched IES Brazil Consultoria in 2003 and leverages solution providers to deliver G&G technology and services to clients. Belem has served most recently as GAIA Brazilian representative for PGS. He was the founder and Latin American sales manager of Paradigm Geophysical do Brazil. Belem founded Landmark Graphics do Brazil, where he served as country manager. He is a board member of the Brazilian Geophysical Society and holds a degree in geology from the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro and a system analyst degree from Pontificia Universidade Catolica, Rio de Janeiro.

OpenSpirit, based in Sugar Land, Tex., began operations in July 2000 as an independent software company focused on providing integration solutions for upstream applications and data. More than 30 software vendors have licensed the OpenSpirit developer’s kit. Additionally, there are more than 1,500 oil company end users in more than 50 countries using the framework, said a company spokesman.

Dennis Carlton appointed VP of exploration for Pioneer’s western division

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. has named Dennis R. Carlton as vice president of exploration for the company’s western division. Carlton previously served as executive vice president of exploration and COO for Evergreen Resources Inc. Since Pioneer’s September 2004 merger with Evergreen, Carlton has been an advisor to the company’s western division. Prior to joining Evergreen in 1981, he held various positions as an exploration geologist with Hamon Oil and Gas and Mobil Oil Corp. Carlton holds BS and MS degrees from Wichita State University. Pioneer is a large independent oil and gas E&P company with operations in the US, Argentina, Canada, and Africa. The company is headquartered in Dallas.

Consolidated Oil and Gas hires Dean Philpot as VP

Dean Philpot has joined Consolidated Oil and Gas Inc. as the company’s new vice president. Philpot has experience in oil and gas exploration, lease acquisitions, as well as salvage and re-completion of missed and overlooked producing zones in existing wells.

Philpot started his career at Master Drillers Inc., a Dallas-based drilling contractor and exploration company operating five rotary drilling rigs in the Fort Worth basin of Texas. He also served as a partner in Quantum Oil and Gas Inc. in Dallas. During his career, Philpot has leased or acquired more than 80,000 acres of oil and gas leases in north central and central Texas.

These leases are now in play in the Barnett shale gas field. He has worked with many energy explorers, including James E. Peterson, who discovered the Lockhart Crossing field in Mississippi; and Sanford Dvorin, who drilled the first commercial gas well in Dallas and Tarrant County completed in the Barnett shale.

Houston-based Consolidated Oil and Gas is engaged in the exploration and production of onshore domestic oil and natural gas properties. The company’s E&P activities are focused primarily in Texas.

Valero companies elect McLelland, Montgomery, Profusek as board members

San Antonio-based Valero LP has elected two new members to the company’s board of directors, while Valero Energy Corp. has added one. Valero LP has added former US Ambassador Stan McLelland and long-time industry executive Dan Montgomery. Valero Energy Corp., the general partner of Valero LP, has added Robert A. Profusek to its board.

McLelland served as US ambassador to Jamaica from 1998 to 2001. Prior to that, he served as an executive with Valero Energy. He joined Valero in 1981 as senior vice president and general counsel and in 1990 was promoted to executive vice president and general counsel. Before Valero, he was a lawyer with Baker Botts in Houston and had his own law firm in Austin. He replaces Dan Montgomery on the Valero LP board.

Montgomery is director of new business development for Houston American Energy Corp. He has served as chairman of the board or CEO of several other energy companies, including Seagull Energy Corp. and Commet Resources Inc., which he founded in 1984. Montgomery holds a BBA degree in economics and management from Texas A&M University. He replaces Robert A. Profusek, who resigned from the Valero LP board to accept a seat on the board of directors of Valero Energy Corp. Valero Energy is the general partner of Valero LP, a master limited partnership.

Profusek is a partner in the New York office of the law firm Jones Day. His law practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, restructurings, and corporate governance matters, including compensation. Profusek has given lectures and penned articles regarding these matters and has testified before Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He has appeared on CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg TV. Profusek is the company’s tenth board member and will serve on the board’s nominating/governance and compensation committees.

Valero LP is a master limited partnership with 9,150 miles of pipeline, 94 terminal facilities, and four crude oil storage facilities. The partnership has terminal facilities in 25 US states, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands Antilles, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The partnership’s combined system has about 77.6 million barrels of storage capacity, and includes crude oil and refined product pipelines, refined product terminals, petroleum, and a specialty liquids storage and terminals business, as well as crude oil storage tank facilities.

Valero Energy Corp. is a Fortune 500 company with about 22,000 employees and annual revenue of $70 million. The company owns and operates 18 refineries throughout the US, Canada, and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of about 3.3 million b/d, making it the largest refiner in North America.