PERSONNEL MOVES AND PROMOTIONS: Shell names new production vice-president for US E&P unit

Nov. 27, 2000
Jørn Berget has been named vice-president, production, for Royal Dutch/Shell's US exploration and production unit Shell Exploration & Production Co. Berget replaces Steve McVeigh, who has accepted an assignment as president of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. Ltd.-a joint venture of Shell, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corp.
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Jørn Berget has been named vice-president, production, for Royal Dutch/Shell's US exploration and production unit Shell Exploration & Production Co. Berget replaces Steve McVeigh, who has accepted an assignment as president of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. Ltd.-a joint venture of Shell, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corp.

In his new position, Berget will manage all of Shell's US oil and gas production activities, both offshore and onshore.

A native Norwegian, Berget worked for Shell for almost 20 years, most recently as general manager for Shell's UK northern business unit, which includes Brent field. Prior to that, Berget held a variety of operating, engineering, planning, and managerial assignments covering many facets of Shell's exploration and production business. He has held positions in Argentina, the Netherlands, Peru, Oman, Brunei, and the UK.

McVeigh, with 27 years of experience with Shell Oil Co.'s E&P operations, will head up management of the Sakhalin II project in Russia, as it moves into gas field development and LNG plant construction phase.

Other moves

Fu Chengyu, Zhou Shouwei, and Luo Han have been promoted to the positions of vice-presidents of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). The acting vice-president of CNOOC, Dai Huandong, has retired.

Wesley R. Twiss has been named executive vice-president and chief financial officer of PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., Calgary. Most recently, Twiss served in the same capacity at Petro-Canada. He also served as the firm's senior financial officer for more than 10 years. Previously, he held vice-presidential roles within Petro-Canada's refining, marketing, information systems, and corporate development divisions since 1983. Before that, Twiss worked with the former Exxon Corp. and its Canadian affiliate Imperial Oil Ltd. in various operating, planning, and managerial capacities in both Canada and the US.

Bill McHolick has been named vice-president of BHP Ltd.'s US operating and development asset team at BHP Petroleum (Americas) Inc., Houston.

Under his new assignment, McHolick will have operating and financial responsibility for BHP's oil and natural gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico and Latin America that are now in production.

This will include the planning and development of BHP's discoveries in deepwater and ultradeepwater blocks of the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Trinidad and Tobago, and other areas presently under evaluation.

"Bill brings extensive technical and strategic expertise to our team," said Bernie Wirth, acting president, deepwater discovery and appraisal, BHP Petroleum. "His operational experience, especially with floating production and subsea technologies, provides an invaluable resource as we meet the challenges of bringing deepwater fields into development and production."

Before being named to his new position, McHolick served as vice-president, BHP Petroleum's Australian operated asset team, and vice-president, strategic planning for the Australia-Asia region. McHolick has 20 years of experience in the oil industry and has held positions in process design, project management, reservoir engineering, and business and strategic planning.

Ron McIntosh will join Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. as senior vice-president and chief operating officer starting Dec. 1.

McIntosh, who is currently vice-president, international-exploration, for Petro-Canada, has held a variety of senior management positions both inside and outside Western Canada during his 35-year career in the upstream oil and gas industry.

"Ron brings an extremely successful exploration record to Gulf, and I am delighted that he is joining us," said Dick Auchinleck, Gulf Canada president and chief executive officer. "His decision is a testament to the potential created by our acquisition of Crestar [Energy Inc.] (OGJ, Oct. 9, 2000, p. 32) and our renewed focus on exploration and the business development of our assets."