PERSONNEL MOVES AND PROMOTIONS: ConocoPhillips makes management changes

Oct. 20, 2008
ConocoPhillips made several senior management changes.

ConocoPhillips made several senior management changes.

John Carrig, executive vice-president, finance, and chief financial officer, will become president and chief operating officer.

Jim Gallogly, executive vice-president, refining, marketing ,and transportation (RMT), will become executive vice-president, exploration and production.

Willie Chiang, senior vice-president, commercial, will become senior vice-president, RMT.

Greg Goff, president, strategy, integration, and specialty businesses for RMT, will become senior vice-president, commercial.

Sig Cornelius, senior vice-president, planning, strategy, and corporate affairs, will become senior vice-president, finance, and chief financial officer.

Jeff Sheets, currently vice-president and treasurer, will become senior vice-president, planning and strategy.

Red Cavaney, who will retire from his position as president and chief executive officer of the American Petroleum Institute on Oct. 31, will become senior vice-president, government and public affairs, in November.

Fran Vallejo, general manager, corporate planning and budgets, PS&CA, will become vice-president and treasurer, finance.

John Lowe, executive vice-president, E&P, will serve as assistant to the chief executive officer. He will continue to work full time until Jan. 31, 2009, then will be employed part-time.

Upstream moves

Saudi Aramco has made three new appointments.

Dawood M. Al-Dawood was named executive director of marketing supply and joint venture coordination, Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani was appointed chief petroleum engineer, and Mohammad G. Al-Zahrani was designated general manager of drilling.

Al-Dawood joined the company in August 1982 as an engineering aide in the petroleum engineering administrative and planning services division on the company’s “Fast-track” program. He most recently served as acting president and chief executive officer of Vela International Marine Ltd.

Al-Qahtani started his career in 1983 as an engineering aide in the the company’s planning and administrative services division. He then began work as a petroleum engineer in reservoir engineering. He served as acting chief petroleum engineer in 2007 and became president and chief executive officer of Aramco Services Co. in Houston before returning to petroleum engineering to become chief petroleum engineer.

Al-Zahrani is a 34-year veteran of the company. He began his career with Saudi Aramco as an operator and later a supervising operator in the Abqaiq producing division, Shedgum producing division, and Ain Dar GOSP No. 1 and pump station. He most recently served as president and chief executive officer of Aramco subsidiary Aramco Gulf Operations Co. in Khafji.

Total SA has appointed Jacques Marraud des Grottes senior vice-president, E&P, in Africa and has named him to the management committee.

Des Grottes headed Elf Gabon during 2001-04 and most recently served as managing director in Nigeria.

Talisman Energy Inc. has appointed James Fraser senior vice-president, eastern division, North American operations.

Fraser brings more than 30 years of exploration and production industry experience and has held roles in production, reservoir engineering, business development, and new venture areas. He previously was vice-president of operations, southern division, at Chesapeake Energy Corp.

BG Group PLC has appointed Scott Reeves as global head of its coalbed methane division.

Reeves has 25 years’ experience in unconventional resources and is a recognized international expert in the field. He will use his experience and deep knowledge to help BG build a material and sustainable CBM business.

Reeves was executive vice-president in Houston for Advanced Resources International Inc., Arlington, Va.

Lundin Petroleum AB announced management changes as a result of the increasing scope of its operations in Southeast Asia.

Jeff Lobao has assumed the position of manager director, Southeast Asia, based in Singapore with responsibility for the activities in the region.

Mike Nicholson has relocated from the corporate office in Geneva as general manager for Malaysia based in Kuala Lumpur.

Benny Kwa, currently acting general manager for Malaysia, will become deputy general manager and assume responsibility for commercial and legal activities in the Southeast Asian region.

Rosetta Resources Inc. has named Ellen R. DeSanctis executive vice-president of strategy and development. DeSanctis’s responsibilities will include strategic planning, business development, and Rosetta’s corporate giving programs.

DeSanctis has been an independent consultant advising companies in the areas of strategic planning, investor relations, and leadership development since 2006. Prior to that, she served as vice-president, corporate communications and strategic planning, for Burlington Resources Inc.

Black Elk Energy LLC, Houston, has appointed Terrell Clark executive vice-president and chief technology officer and Joe Matthews vice-president, land.

Clark has 28 years of experience in reservoir engineering and field exploitation. He joins Black Elk following the sale of his privately held, Houston-based petroleum consulting company Atlantis E&P Services Inc. to Hamilton Engineering in 2007.

Prior to joining Black Elk, Matthews was manager of business development for Callon Petroleum Operating Co. in Houston where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating, and executing joint venture and partnering opportunities. In his new position, Matthews will focus primarily on opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore South Louisiana.

Separately, Black Elk has named Douglas W. Fehr as chief operating officer.

Fehr recently retired from BP Americas as technical director for a major pipeline system and marine terminal in Turkey. He has 29 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.

Lucas Energy Inc. appointed W.A. (Bill) Sikora president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board.

Prior to this position, Sikora provided financial and business advisory services to Lucas on matters ranging from acquisitions, financial reporting, and overall business strategy. He has also provided these services to executive management teams of publicly owned and privately held companies with an emphasis on the energy industry since 1982.

Sikora was executive vice-president of TransMontaigne Inc. during 1996-99 and in recent years served as a board member for several independent E&P companies.

Endeavour International Corp. has named Carl D. Grenz as executive vice-president of operations.

Grenz has 33 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He previously served as chief of global production for BHP Billiton.

Downstream moves

Saudi Aramco Total Refining & Petrochemical Co. has appointed Salem H. Shaheen as president and chief executive officer.

The company also previously announced that it is planning to offer Saudi nationals 25% of the company shares in an initial public offering on the premise that the two founding partners will each retain 37.5% of the equity.

Aramco and Total signed the JV partnership agreement June 22.

These agreements were regarded as a significant step for initiating the construction works of a 400,000 b/d world-class refinery, based in Madinat al-Jubail al-Sina‘iyah (Jubail Industrial City) in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

The refinery, slated to come on stream by yearend 2012, will process heavy oil. Aramco and Total will share the marketing of the refinery products.

Motiva Enterprises LLC, a refining and marketing joint venture owned by affiliates of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Saudi Aramco, has named Bob Pease as president and chief executive officer.

Pease has 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He served as president of Shell Trading Co. since 2004 and was responsible for Shell’s oil trading business in the US as well as a majority of Shell’s worldwide trading operations in both oil and gas.