Halliburton elects new CEO
Halliburton Company has elected Jeff Miller, the company's president and a board member, to the position of president and CEO. Dave Lesar, who has led Halliburton as chairman and CEO since 2000, will continue serving the company as executive chairman. The leadership changes are effective June 1, 2017. Miller will provide the day-to-day leadership and management of the company. He will also be responsible for the planning and execution of Halliburton's strategic direction, financial objectives, and technology development along with Halliburton's management team who will report directly to him. As executive chairman, Lesar will continue to play an important leadership role focusing on the strategic direction of the company, advising the Halliburton management team and transitioning CEO responsibilities to Miller who will then continue reporting to Lesar. Lesar has entered into a new executive employment agreement that provides that he will continue as executive chairman through mandatory retirement on December 31, 2018, and contains a four year non-compete. Lesar joined Halliburton in 1993 and has served the company in a variety of roles. He has served as chairman and CEO since 2000. He served as president and chief operating officer of Halliburton from June 1997 to August 2000, and continued as president until August 2014. Previously he was executive vice president and CFO of Halliburton, and executive vice president of Finance and Administration for Halliburton Energy Services, a Halliburton business unit. Lesar holds a bachelor's degree and an MBA from University of Wisconsin. Miller joined Halliburton in 1997 and has since served in several leadership roles, including COO until 2014 when he was named president and was appointed to the Halliburton Board of Directors. Miller holds a bachelor's degree from McNeese State University in Louisiana, and an MBA from Texas A&M University. He is a certified public accountant, a member of the Advisory Council for Texas A&M University Dwight Look College of Engineering, and a member of the board of directors for Atwood Oceanics Inc.
Wood Group leadership changes
Wood Group has made changes to its executive leadership team. Andrew Stewart has been appointed CEO of the Asset Life Cycle Solutions (ALCS) business in the Western region and Michele McNichol has been appointed to the new role of executive president - integration. Stewart succeeds Michele McNichol as CEO of ALCS in the Western region. He was most recently president of the Construction, Maintenance & Operations (CMO) business. He previously led Wood Group's brownfield production services operations in Australia and Asia Pacific. Following the announcement March 13 of Wood Group's potential acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler (AFW), Michele McNichol has been chosen to lead the global integration of that business. She was previously CEO of ALCS in the Western region and CEO of Wood Group Mustang.
PDi appoints new CEO
Project Development International (PDi) Ltd., a provider of multi-disciplined engineering, project management and project services to the international energy industry, has named Daniel McGowan as its new CEO. Bringing over 25 years of industry experience to the role, Daniel has held a variety of operational and project positions in the oil and gas sector, most recently as CEO at Harnser Group, where he led the organization in the security and risk sector. His career has also seen him build and develop Altra Energy following its purchase by Vienco in 2005, exiting in 2010 before holding a series of management roles within Premier Oil. PDi, part of the Tattva Group, was established in 2003 and specializes in engineering and management of energy related projects.
Costain Oil and Gas appoints director of front end and advisory
Technology-based engineering solutions provider, Costain, has appointed Tim Martin as director of front end and advisory services within its oil and gas team. Martin joins Costain from Ramboll, where he was the managing director. Martin has 20 years of experience within the sector and is a member of the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) Asset Stewardship Board.
Western Gas names new CFO
Western Gas Partners LP and Western Gas Equity Partners LP have appointed Jaime R. Casas as senior vice president, CFO, and treasurer of the partnerships. Casas will succeed Benjamin M. Fink, who was recently named president and CEO of the partnerships. Prior to joining Western Gas, Casas served as senior vice president and CFO of Clayton Williams Energy Inc. Previously, he served as vice president and CFO of the general partner of LRR Energy LP from 2011 until its sale in 2015, and as vice president and CFO of Laredo Energy from 2009 to 2011. Western Gas Partners LP is a Delaware master limited partnership formed by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. to acquire, own, develop and operate midstream energy assets. Western Gas Equity Partners LP is a Delaware master limited partnership formed by Anadarko to own the following types of interests in WES: (i) the general partner interest and all of the incentive distribution rights in WES, both owned through WGP's 100% ownership of WES's general partner, and (ii) a significant limited partner interest in WES.
Anadarko makes leadership changes
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has named Daniel E. Brown executive vice president, international and deepwater operations and Bradley J. Holly executive vice president, US onshore exploration and production. Darrell E. Hollek, formerly executive vice president, operations, will serve as a senior adviser until his retirement later this year. Brown began his career with the company in 1998. Most recently, Brown served as senior vice president, international and deepwater operations since August 2016. He has held a variety of positions within Anadarko. He holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and a MBA from Rice University. Brown is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas and serves on the Board of Advisors at the World Affairs Council. Holly joined Anadarko in 1997. He most recently served as senior vice president, US onshore exploration and production. Holly is a past chairman of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, and currently serves on Industry Advisory Board for the Texas Tech Petroleum Engineering Department. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper appointed Holly to the Task Force on State and Local Regulation of Oil and Gas Operations in 2014. He holds a bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University, and he is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.
Bracewell adds energy partner Dyke in Washington DC
Bracewell LLP has added Hans P. Dyke to the firm's Washington, DC office as a partner in the energy practice. Dyke joins Bracewell from Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. Dyke advises clients on transactions in both the electric power and oil and gas midstream space, as well as on transactions involving energy intensive industries such as data storage. Dyke earned his undergraduate degree from Carthage College, a Master of the Arts degree from Marquette University and his law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he has served as adjunct professor.
Rose joins Sidley Austin as energy M&A partner in Dallas
Marc Rose has joined Sidley Austin LLP as a partner in the firm's Dallas office. He will be a member of Sidley's M&A practice. Rose, formerly with Vinson & Elkins, focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other energy transactions as well as private equity investments. He advises private equity funds and their portfolio companies, and publicly traded energy companies in a variety of transactions in the energy sector, among them divestitures, joint ventures and investments in the upstream and midstream industries.
Klingensmith joins Blank Rome as partner in Houston
Elizabeth E. Klingensmith has joined Blank Rome LLP as a partner in the corporate litigation group and member of the energy industry team. She is based in the firm's Houston office and joins from Haynes and Boone LLP. Klingensmith's primary focus is oil and gas litigation. She routinely represents large and small companies in disputes arising from oil and gas operations and transactions in Texas and North Dakota. She has also counseled oil and gas clients in Oklahoma and Louisiana on a pro hac vice basis. In addition to her energy-focused work, Klingensmith frequently handles commercial disputes in the construction, real estate, transportation, banking, and professional services industries. She has extensive experience with disputes that involve claims for breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, post-judgment enforcement, theft of trade secrets, breach of employment agreements, conversion, and declaratory judgment. Klingensmith received her BA and BM from Rice University and her JD from the University of Houston Law Center.
Stone Energy makes C-suite appointments
David H. Welch, CEO and president of Stone Energy Corp., will retire after 13 years of service to the company. Welch also intends to step down from his position as a director of the company. James M. Trimble, currently an independent director of the company, has been elected interim CEO and president, effective April 28, 2017. The Board also appointed Keith Seilhan, formerly the company's senior vice president - Gulf of Mexico, to the new post of COO. Trimble brings more than 35 years of energy industry experience to this position. Trimble was president and CEO of PDC Energy from 2011 - 2015. Earlier, he founded and/or led several private oil and gas companies focused primarily on drilling in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Trimble served as the senior vice president of exploration and production for Cabot Oil and Gas for 17 years. He graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in petroleum engineering. Seilhan was named senior vice president-Gulf of Mexico in January 2015 and vice president-deep water in February 2013. Prior to joining Stone Energy, Seilhan filled various senior leadership and operations roles for Amoco and BP over his 21-year career with those organizations.
Valeura names Guest COO
Canada-based Valeura Energy Inc. has appointed Sean Guest as COO. Guest brings more than 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, including 15 years in senior and executive leadership roles. His early 12-year career with Shell included assignments in the Netherlands, Australia and Malaysia. He subsequently joined Woodside Energy, where he managed the company's exploration program in Libya from 2005 to 2009, followed by management of the exploration and new business functions in Australia. For the past seven years, he has been CEO of two private, junior international companies with exploration and production operations in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ethiopia. Guest has a PhD in geology and a BSc in Applied Science, both from Queen's University at Kingston. The company plans to transition to a larger operator role in its shallow gas business in the Thrace Basin in northwest Turkey. Valeura operates the Banarli licenses and operates the TBNG JV lands as a result of the corporation's acquisition of TBNG. A new shallow gas drilling campaign is expected to commence by the end of May 2017. Valeura is also operator of the US$36 million, deep exploration program under the Banarli Farm-in agreement with Statoil, in which drilling of the first deep well commenced on May 13, 2017.
Concho Resources makes Executive Management Changes
Concho Resources Inc. has named Joe Wright, the company's executive vice president and COO, to the board of directors. Wright intends to retire as an officer of the company in January 2019. In addition, Jack Harper, currently executive vice president and CFO, has been named president and CFO. Will Giraud will continue to serve as executive vice president until January 2019, when he will succeed Wright as COO. Effective immediately, Giraud is responsible for the company's four asset teams as well as business development and strategy. The company has promoted Gayle Burleson, Travis Counts, Price Moncrief, Erick Nelson, and Brenda Schroer. The executive management team now consists of: Tim Leach, chairman of the board and CEO; Jack Harper, president and CFO; Joe Wright, executive vice president and COO; Will Giraud, executive vice president; Gayle Burleson, senior vice president of business development; Travis Counts, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary; Steve Guthrie, senior vice president of business operations and engineering; Price Moncrief, senior vice president of finance and strategy; Erick Nelson, senior vice president of operations and production; and Brenda Schroer, senior vice president, CAO, and treasurer. Additional leadership changes include the promotion of James Caputo, presently director of business development, to vvice president of business development, and the promotion of Chris Spies, presently chief geoscientist, to vice president of geoscience and technology.
Thomson named managing director at SengS
Engineering services firm, SengS, has appointed Peter Thomson as managing director. He previously served as the company's operations manager. With more than 15 years' experience in the oil and gas industry, Thomson initially joined SengS in 2014 as workshop manager before being promoted to operations manager last year. Murray Kerr, who founded SengS in 2012, has taken on the newly-created role of group strategic commercial director at Pryme Group, following the Dundee-based organization's acquisition of SengS in November 2016. Murray retains an active interest in SengS. SengS provides engineering, testing, control and hydraulic systems and tooling to the energy industry. Since 2012 the company has delivered more than 450 projects across multiple disciplines for clients in the North Sea, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
WFW promotes oil and gas specialist Chooramun to partneR
International law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has promoted senior associate Rod Chooramun to partner as of May 5, 2017. Chooramun focuses on advising clients on UK and cross-border M&A, joint ventures and project development transactions in the oil and gas sector. He has extensive in-house oil and gas experience having previously worked at BG Group (now part of Shell) and at Sumitomo Corporation in Tokyo. Before qualifying as a solicitor, Chooramun also worked as an exploration geologist for an international mining company and is currently a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
Williams elects Bergstrom as board chairman
Stephen W. Bergstrom has been elected by The Williams Companies Inc. to serve as chairman of the board. Bergstrom replaces Dr. Kathleen B. Cooper, becomes chair of the board's nominating and governance committee. Dr. Cooper has served on the Williams Board since 2006. Bergstrom joined the Williams Board in August of 2016. Bergstrom is a director on the board of American Midstream Partners. He served as president and CEO of the general partner of American Midstream and as executive chairman of the board of directors of the general partner from May 2013 to December 2015. He acted as an exclusive consultant to ArcLight from October 2003 to December 2015. Bergstrom earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Administration from Iowa State University. The Williams Board of Directors consists of 11 members, ten of whom are independent.
