Magnum Hunter names Frazier president, CEO through Cimarex merger closing
Magnum Hunter Resources Inc., Irving, Tex., named Richard R. Frazier as president and CEO of the company on an interim basis through closing of the recently announced merger with Denver-based Cimarex Energy Co. Frazier's appointment becomes effective Apr. 4.
Company founder and current Pres. and CEO Gary C. Evans will be retiring from the company after 20 years of service. Evans will continue to serve as a member of Magnum Hunter’s board.
On Jan. 26, Magnum Hunter and Cimarex announced that their respective boards approved an agreement for the acquisition by Cimarex Energy of Magnum Hunter (OGJ Online, Jan. 26, 2005). Closing is anticipated before the end of the second quarter.
Frazier currently serves as Magnum Hunter’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer. Frazier has more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry. He joined the company in 1994.
Other upstream moves
Trans Energy Inc., St. Marys, W.Va., appointed Clarence E. Smith as CEO and John G. Corp as vice-president and a new member to the company’s board.
Smith has drilled and operated wells and has managed and operated Arvilla Pipeline Inc. Currently, he serves as president of Arvilla Oilfield Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Trans Energy.
Corp has 25 years of experience in drilling, production, and oil field service operations in the Appalachian basin. Prior to joining Trans Energy, Corp held various management positions with Belden & Blake Corp.
Santos Ltd. appointed Gary Christenson as president of its Indonesian operations.
Christenson spent more than 6 years with Unocal Corp., where he most recently served as general manager for Unocal Makassar Ltd. and senior vice-president, deepwater exploration and production, in Jakarta.
In this senior Unocal executive position, Christenson oversaw the development of Indonesia’s first deepwater oil and gas field and headed the group that has discovered more than 1 billion boe since mid-1998 and drilled more than 100 deepwater wells.
Christenson also worked for Keltex Energy, British Gas, and Tenneco Oil Co. He has more than 15 years of international oil and gas management experience in Asia and Africa.
BG Group appointed Mark Carne as executive vice-president and managing director, North West Europe.
Carne, who will take up his new position May 1, joins BG from Royal Dutch/Shell Group where he held a number of senior positions, most recently as managing director of Brunei Shell Petroleum and country chairman for Shell Cos. in Brunei.
Prior to that, Carne served as asset director responsible for Shell’s UK North Sea oil production. His experience includes various general management roles in the UK, Holland, and Oman covering operations, engineering, and commercial and business development.
William R. Picquet joined Mission Resources Corp., Houston, as senior vice-president, operations and engineering.
Most recently, Picquet served as CEO of M3 Energy LLC, a private exploration and production company. Prior to that, he was managing director, USA, for Waterous & Co.
He also previously held the positions of senior vice-president, North America, for Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. and president of Torch Operating Co.
Brad Guidry was promoted to senior vice-president, exploration, for Unit Petroleum Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Unit Corp., Tulsa.
Guidry joined Unit in August 1988 as a staff geologist, and in 1991, he was promoted to geologic manager overseeing the company’s geologic operations.
In January 2003, he was promoted to division vice-president, overseeing Unit’s offices in Midland, Houston, and Denver.
PanOcean Energy Corp. appointed Hollis L. Keene as vice-president, operations.
Keene will be based in the UK and will divide his time between the company’s corporate offices in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, and the company’s field operations in Gabon, where the company is focused on conventional light oil production.
Keene has 35 years of oil and gas production and drilling operations experience.
Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. named Gregory E. Evans as vice-president, exploration.
Before joining Carrizo, a Houston-based independent, Evans served as vice-president, North America Onshore Exploration, for Ocean Energy Inc. from 2001-03.
Prior to that, he spent 19 years at Burlington Resources Inc. where he served as chief geophysicist, North America, during 1999-2000, Gulf of Mexico deep water exploration manager during 1998-99, and geoscience manager for the Western Gulf of Mexico Shelf during 1996-98.
During 1982-96, Evans held various other technical and managerial positions with Burlington Resources, including division exploration manager of both the Rocky Mountain region as well as the Gulf Coast region.
Evans succeeds Jeremy T. Greene, who has left Carrizo to accept a position with a private exploration company.
Houston Exploration Co., Houston, appointed John E. Bergeron Jr. as vice-president and general manager of the offshore division.
Bergeron, a 26-year veteran in the industry, will manage all aspects of the company’s Gulf of Mexico operations including prospect generation, exploration and development drilling, technology, and leasing opportunities.
Previously, he was with Total E&P USA Inc., Fina Oil & Chemical Co., Tenneco Oil, and Gulf Oil Corp.