PERSONNEL MOVES AND PROMOTIONS: Plains Resources appoints new CEO, top executives

June 11, 2001
Plains Resources Inc., Houston, has named James C. Flores to the position of chairman and CEO of the company.
Flores
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Plains Resources Inc., Houston, has named James C. Flores to the position of chairman and CEO of the company. Flores replaces Greg Arm- strong-previously CEO of both Plains Resources and its affiliate Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA)-who will retain the title of chairman and CEO of PAA.

In addition, Plains Resources has made the following other executive-level appointments:

John T. Raymond has been named executive vice-president and chief operating officer; Timothy T. Stephens has been named general counsel and executive vice-president, administration; and Jere C. Overdyke Jr. has been named executive vice-president and chief financial officer.

Raymond comes to Plains Resources from serving as vice-president, corporate development, at Kinder Morgan Inc. and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP. Prior to that, Raymond served as vice-president, corporate development, for Ocean Energy Inc., Houston.

Stephens formerly served as chairman, president, and CEO of Abacan Resource Corp., Calgary. Stephens's other oil and gas experience includes holding the offices of president of Seven Seas Petroleum Inc. and vice-president of Enron Capital & Trade Resources, both based in Houston.

Overdyke formerly served as managing director of Enron Corp. unit Enron Global Markets, Houston.

Plains Resources further announced a reorganization of the existing executive officer team by naming William C. Egg Jr. as senior vice-president, engineering, and Jim G. Hester as senior vice-president, operations.

Upstream, midstream moves

Steven H. Pruett has joined Midland, Tex.-based First Permian LLC, a unit of Parallel Petroleum Corp., as president and CEO. Pruett has 20 years of industry experience, most recently serving as vice-president and oil and gas investment portfolio manager for Enron North America, Houston. Privately held First Permian was formed in June 1999 to acquire the Permian basin oil and gas assets of TotalFinaElf SA unit Fina Oil & Chemical Co.

Prior to joining First Permian, Pruett served as president and CEO of First Reserve Oil & Gas, a former unit of First Reserve Corp., Greenwich, Conn. Pruett also served as vice-president of parent firm First Reserve. Before this, Pruett was an oil and gas investment banker with CS First Boston and worked in planning and economics for the former Amoco Corp. He began his career as a petroleum engineer with ARCO Oil & Gas in Tulsa, Denver, and Midland.

Kathleen (Kathy) Hogenson has been appointed general manager and president of Santos USA Corp., Houston, the US subsidiary of Adelaide-based Santos Ltd. In the position, Hog- enson will be responsible for the evaluation, development, and further exploration of the company's Ashland Deep (Runnels) and Queen City (Mew) prospects. Also, Hogenson will be a member of Santos's executive committee.

Hogenson comes to the Santos unit with 19 years of experience in petroleum exploration and production and has worked in the US, Ecuador, and Indonesia. Most recently, Hogenson served as vice-president, exploration and production, for Unocal Corp.

Keith Jordan has joined Contour Energy Co., Houston, as vice-president, exploration and land. Jordan joins Contour with over 22 years of experience in exploration, development, and acquisition of oil and gas reservoirs, including managerial and executive responsibilities.

Most recently, Jordan served as vice-president, exploration, production, and operations for Santos USA's US business unit. Prior to working for San- tos, Jordan held positions in 1979-98 at Occidental Petroleum Corp. unit Occidental Oil & Gas Corp., most recently serving as Gulf of Mexico business team leader.

Storm Energy Inc., Calgary, appointed Derek Evans to the position of vice-president, business development. Evans is a professional engineer who has held positions with Renaissance Energy Ltd., Calgary, for 14 years, until the company's sale to Calgary-based Husky Oil Ltd. in August 2000.

Jose Abramovitz and Victor Lay have been named as consultants for a 6-month period to Miguel Luis Ortigas, the newly appointed president of state oil company Perupetro. Abramovitz and Lay will assist with the promotion of new exploration areas (OGJ, May 14, 2001, p. 42).

Abramovitz, who is a lawyer, will provide support to the presidency as legal advisor for petroleum contracts and related matters. Lay, a geologist and a former exploration manager of Occidental Petroleum's Peruvian operations, will advise on the promotion of areas and the management of technical information.

Lay most recently worked as a consultant and was on the committee that negotiated the Camisea natural gas project with the consortiums headed by Argen- tina's Pluspetrol SA and Techint SA unit Tecgas.

Abramovitz also was a member of the recent Camisea committee and in 1988 headed the committee that was unable to reach agreement with Royal Dutch/Shell Group to develop the Camisea fields under the Garcia government.

Graham
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Doug Graham, president of ATCO Pipelines, Calgary, was named chairman of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association for 2001-02. Graham succeeds Ron Clark, president and CEO of TransGas Ltd., Regina, Sask.

CEPA represents the interests of nine of Canada's major crude oil and natural gas transmission pipeline companies.

Downstream moves

Thomas E. (Teddy) Gottwald has been elected to the position of CEO of Ethyl Corp., Richmond, Va. Thomas Gottwald, who already serves as the company's president, joined Ethyl in the plastics division in 1984. In 1991, he was elected vice-president of the firm and named divisional president of the company's petroleum additives division. Thomas Gottwald was then elected to the positions of president and chief operating officer in 1994.

Thomas Gottwald's appointment corresponds with the retirement of Bruce C. Gottwald as Ethyl's CEO. Bruce Gottwald will continue as chairman of the company.

Bruce Gottwald joined Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Co., Richmond, Va., in 1956 as a research chemist. When Albemarle merged with Ethyl in 1962, he was elected to the position of vice-president, secretary, and a director of the company. Bruce Gottwald was elected president in 1969 and became CEO in 1992.