Alaska's top two state petroleum-related agencies have received two new appointees.
And two Houston upstream independents have new presidents.
Alaskan appointments
Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles has named Pat Pourchot commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Pourchot succeeds John Shively, who resigned in July.
DNR's Division of Oil & Gas oversees much of the state-level permitting for oil and gas activities in Alaska.
For the past 6 years, Pourchot has served as Knowles's legislative director. Before that, he worked as a legislative assistant on resources and the environment for US Sen. Mike Gravel, land manager for the Alaska Federation of Natives, staff assistant to the state Senate resources committee, and a resource manager for the NANA Regional Corp.
In 1984, Pourchot was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, where he served two terms. This was followed by one term in the Alaska Senate. After 8 years in the legislature, Pourchot served as executive director of Commonwealth North, an Anchorage-based bipartisan public policy group.
Julie M. Heusser has been appointed to a seat on the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC). Heusser, a petroleum engineer, joins AOGCC with more than 20 years of subsurface experience in the Alaska oil industry.
"With the educational, subsurface, and oil industry experience that's required for the job, Heusser is a great choice to serve on the [AOGCC]," Knowles said.
Heusser, who is a native Alaskan, worked for BP as a field petroleum and reservoir engineer during 1977-81, when she joined ARCO as a reservoir engineer, field development engineer, workover-stimulation engineer, annular communication engineer, and well services supervisor until 1994. From April 1996 to the present, Heusser worked as a self-employed consulting engineer.
Other appointments
Larry A. Ray has been named president of Seven Seas Petroleum Inc., Houston. Over the last 3 years, Ray has served as executive vice-president and chief operating officer at Seven Seas. And, since April 1999, Ray has served as acting chief financial officer.
Ray has 29 years of experience working in the oil and gas industry, which includes experience in all phases of US and international exploration and production, acquisitions and divestitures, and financing.
Seven Seas continues to look for a chief financial officer.
Steven W. Nance has been named president, Peoples Energy Production, Houston.
Nance is a petroleum engineer and has 22 years of experience in the exploration and production industry.
Nance came to the Peoples Energy unit after serving as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Xplor Energy Inc., The Woodlands, Tex., until it merged with Harken Energy Corp., Houston, in 1999 (OGJ, Sept. 6, 1999, p. 31).
Prior to that, Nance spent 12 years at Burlington Resources Inc., Houston, which included heading up Burlington Resources' Gulf Coast exploration and production operations. Earlier in his career, Nance worked for Superior Oil Co. and Mobil Oil Corp.
"We are pleased to have found a person of Steve's breadth of experience to lead our exploration and production operations," said Richard E. Terry, chairman and chief executive of Peoples Energy.
