Bill Barrett will serve as chairman and CEO of newly formed Bill Barrett Corp. The Denver-based company will focus on exploration and development of natural gas in the US Rocky Mountain region.
Barrett is former chairman and CEO of Barrett Resources Corp., Denver, that Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, acquired last year for $2.8 billion in a move that more than doubled Williams's natural gas reserves (OGJ Online, May 7, 2001). Barrett put itself on the auction block after Shell Oil Co. made a $2 billion hostile bid for the company.
Barrett assembled an experienced senior executive team for his new company, including Frank Keller, chief operating officer; Fred Barrett, president; and Bob Howard, chief financial officer. The company raised more than $280 million through private equity and management investment and acquired several proven producing natural gas properties in Wyoming's Wind River Basin for $73 million.
Other upstream moves
James R. Breimayer was promoted to vice-president and general manager of the Tyler, Tex., division of EOG Resources Inc., Houston.
Breimayer began his career as a geologist in Lafayette, La., with the former Tenneco Oil Co., Houston, and later served as senior exploration geologist for that company's onshore division. With the sale of Tenneco Oil in 1989, Breimayer went to North Central Oil Co., Houston, as project geologist.
He joined EOG as exploration manager in Tyler in 1994.
Midstream moves
Rick Rodekohr was named vice-president and chief financial officer of Williams's natural gas pipeline unit.
Rodekohr joined the former Transco Energy Co., Houston, in 1982 and served in various accounting and finance positions. He was corporate planning director when Williams acquired Transco in 1995 and was named to planning director for Williams's gas pipeline unit. He was named vice-president, investor relations, in 1998.
Rick Waddell joined BG Group PLC as executive vice-president in charge of all of the company's upstream and downstream activities in the Southern Cone of South America, including major gas distribution hubs for Metrogas in Buenos Aires and Comgas in Sao Paulo.
Waddell was formerly senior vice-president of Latin American operations at Enron Corp., Houston, including activities related to the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline, commercial power projects, and gas distribution.
Directors of BC Gas Inc., Vancouver, BC, appointed Richard T. Ballantyne president of Trans Mountain Pipe Line Co. Ltd., Corridor Pipeline Ltd., and Bison Pipeline Ltd., effective May 1.
He succeeds Tom Doyle, who is retiring Apr. 30 after 17 years with Trans Mountain and 44 years in the pipeline industry. Following his retirement, Doyle will serve as part-time executive advisor to the company.
Ballantyne joined Trans Mountain in 1985 and held a number of engineering positions prior to becoming manager of oil movements and planning in 1989. In 1998 he transferred to the parent BC Gas as business leader for planning and project development and, more recently, director of transmission and project development.
Last October, Ballantyne rejoined Trans Mountain in Calgary as executive vice-president responsible for operations and new project development.
Petrochemical moves
In a consolidation of business management, marketing, and sales activities between Lyondell Chemical Co. and Equistar Chemicals LP, Morris Gelb, Lyondell's executive vice-president and chief operating officer, was named chief operating officer for both firms.
Eugene R. Allspach retired as chief operating officer of Equistar Mar. 31.
As part of the realignment, Edward J. Dineen, senior vice-president of intermediates and performance chemicals for Lyondell, became senior vice-president of chemicals and polymers business management with responsibility for Equistar's olefins, polymers, aromatics, and ethylene oxide and derivatives businesses.
W. Norman Phillips Jr., Equistar's senior vice-president of polymers, was named senior vice-president, fuels and raw materials, for both. Equistar is a joint venture owned by Occidental Petroleum Corp. 29.5%, Millennium Chemicals Inc. 29.5%, and Lyondell 41%.