Watson Energy, Mandeville, La., appointed W.E. Spencer president and CEO of the company. Spencer has more than 40 years of experience in the energy industry. Previously, he served as president and as a board member of Coastal Oil & Gas Corp., Houston.
Since 1992, Spencer was a business consultant to several energy company CEOs.
Meanwhile, Benton Oil & Gas Co. intends to slash its annual corporate general and administrative expenses by 50% to $4 million and relocate its Carpinteria, Calif., headquarters to Houston. The office move is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter.
Benton also will streamline its corporate staffing by transferring senior staff having non-US asset operations and accountability experience to the company's principal operations in Venezuela and Russia.
Pres. and CEO Peter J. Hill said Benton will take a nonrecurring charge in the second quarter of $1-1.5 million for estimated severance and transition costs. These expenses will be recouped through lower costs by the end of first quarter 2002.
Upstream moves
John P. McGrain was named chairman and CEO of Americomm Resources Corp., Tulsa, upon the company's recent acquisition of Empire Petroleum Corp. McGrain has 30 years experience as an investor with a focus on oil and gas companies and is the chairman and interim CEO of Westlinks Resources Ltd., Calgary.
Thomas J. Jacobsen was named Americomm's president and chief operating officer. Jacobsen, also a director of Westlinks, has more than 40 years experience in the oil and gas industry within Canada, the US, and internationally.
W. King Grant was appointed chief financial officer of Gasco Energy, Inc., Denver. He joined Gasco Energy after working for 18 months at KEM.com, a catalog and internet retailer of photographic equipment.
Formerly an oil and gas investment banker, Grant served as senior vice-president in ING Baring LLC's natural resources group. Before that, Grant spent 11 years at Chase Manhattan.
Nick Wemyss has joined Samson Canada Ltd., Calgary, as vice-president, exploration. Wemyss will be responsible for the growth of Samson's overall exploration portfolio in Canada, including its recent plans to enter the Northwest Territories.
Before joining Samson, Wemyss was vice-president, exploration, with Search Energy Corp., Calgary.
During 1994-97, Wemyss served as vice-president, exploration, for Calgary-based Elan Energy Inc. During 1984-94, he served in management roles for Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd., also of Calgary.
Kristin Abel has been named controller for Nuevo Energy Co, Houston. Abel has been with Nuevo for 8 years in various finance and accounting positions, most recently serving as manager, finance and planning. She is a certified public accountant and was formerly an audit manager at a major public accounting firm.
Effective July 9, Malcolm Weatherson has been appointed as PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.'s project general manager for the Deep Panuke gas development project off Nova Scotia.
Weatherston comes to PanCanadian with more than 20 years of experience in the domestic and international oil and gas industry, having worked for both major operators and offshore construction firms. Most recently, he served as project general manager for the Terra Nova oil development off Newfoundland.
For Calgary-based PanCanadian, Weatherston will be based in Halifax. The Deep Panuke project team is responsible for the design, construction, installation, commissioning, and transition to operations. Deep Panuke is 250 km southeast of Halifax.
Downstream moves
Wes L. Cosgriff was named vice-president, fuels and lubricants, for PetroTrends Inc., Metuchen, NJ. He will be responsible for proprietary and multiclient consulting assignments in automotive and industrial lubricants, lubricant additives, heavy fuels, middle distillates, gasoline, and fuel additives.
Cosgriff primarily will assist PetroTrends in developing and managing lubricant and fuels consulting assignments in the Americas and Europe. He also will be responsible for recruiting and managing new associates.
Cosgriff joins PetroTrends after 4 years as president of his own consulting firm, Cosgriff Associates, which focused on lubricants, fuels, and mineral resources.
Other moves
Michael L. Carthew was chosen to succeed Thomas R. Moore as president of Chevron Corp. unit Chevron Shipping Co. Moore elected to retire effective Sept. 1, following a 33-year career with the company.
Currently, Carthew serves as vice-president and general manager of marine transportation for the Chevron unit, a position he's held since 1999.
Carthew joined Gulf Oil Co. in 1974 where he held positions in tanker operations and chartering. He also served as marine operations manager for Gulf's Great Britian-based businesses. After Chevron merged with Gulf in 1984, Carthew held a number of commercial and managerial positions in the company's international and US-based businesses.
Moore started his career with Chevron in 1968 as a design engineer at the company's Richmond, Calif., refinery. Moore joined the shipping unit in 1976, working as a supervisor in the maintenance and repair division. In 1984, Moore was named manager of the Saint John, NB, refinery, owned by the then Chevron affiliate, Irving Oil Ltd. A year later, he was named vice-president and general manager for the unit. He was then elected president of Chevron Shipping in April 1994.
Lakehead Pipe Line Co. Inc. named Dan C. Tutcher president of the Duluth, Minn., firm. Before this appointment, Tutcher served as chairman, president, and CEO of Houston-based Midcoast Energy Resources Inc. from its formation in 1992 through its acquisition by Enbridge Inc., Calgary, earlier this year (OGJ, Apr. 9, 2001, p. 31).
Following the acquisition, Enbridge named Tutcher group vice-president, transportation group south. Lakehead Pipe Line is the general partner of Lakehead Pipe Line Partners LP and is indirectly wholly owned by Enbridge.
ONEOK Inc., Tulsa, named Beverly Monnet as its vice-president, controller, and chief accounting officer.
Monnet joined ONEOK in 1987 as a revenue accountant. In 1988, she was promoted to manager of revenue accounting for ONEOK Resources, a position she held until 1995 when she was promoted to gas accounting manager for Oklahoma Natural Gas. Monnet returned to ONEOK Resources in 1997.
Before joining ONEOK, Monnet was employed by Southport Exploration Co., Tulsa.
Julie A. Dill has assumed the post of executive vice-president, Asia Pacific, Duke Energy International (DEI), a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corp., Charlotte, NC. She replaced Michael J. McDonold who returned to a US position with Duke Energy.
Dill joined DEI in 1998 as chief financial officer. Previously, she was fiscal director of transportation with Equilon Enterprises LLC, a Royal Dutch/Shell Group company.
