PERSONNEL MOVES AND PROMOTIONS: Venezuela names Parra new PDVSA head
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has appointed economist and banker Gastón Luis Parra Luzardo president of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
Parra, who is PDVSA's fourth president in 3 years, was sworn in Feb. 13, succeeding General Guaicaipuro Lameda.
Long a political ally of President Chavez, Parra helped draft Venezuela's new hydrocarbon law-effective Jan. 1-that increases royalty rates to 30% from 16%. Parra also helped draft legislation in the 1970s that led to the nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry. He has indicated that PDVSA will be reorganized to cut costs by as much as 25%, and he supports strict adherence to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' production quotas.
Most recently, Parra served as first vice-president at Venezuela's Central Bank since last year. Prior to that he lectured on petroleum economics at the University of Zulia, where he was a professor and had been dean of the School of Economics and Political Science.
Upstream moves
Phillips Petroleum Co. and Conoco Inc.-which are expected to close on a merger deal forming ConocoPhillips in the second half-have named executives to some of the key posts for the new company.
James J. Mulva, currently chairman and CEO of Phillips, will become president and CEO of ConocoPhillips (OGJ, Nov. 26, 2001, p. 26).
Other appointments include:
Robert E. McKee has been named executive vice-president, exploration and production. Since 1996, McKee has served in the same capacity for Conoco. McKee has worked for Conoco since joining the company in 1967. He has held several senior-level positions in both the US and Europe.
Jim W. Nokes has been named executive vice-president, refining, marketing, supply, and transportation-a position he now holds with Conoco. In 1994, Nokes was named vice-president, North American refining and marketing. He was elected to his current position in 1999 and joined Conoco in 1970.
John A. Carrig, currently senior vice-president and chief financial officer for Phillips, has been named executive vice-president, finance, and chief financial officer. Carrig, who joined Phillips in London in 1978, was elected treasurer in 1995 and vice-president and treasurer in 1996. Most recently, he was named senior vice-president and treasurer in 2000 before being elected to his current position.
John E. Lowe, Phillips senior vice-president, corporate strategy and development, has been named executive vice-president, planning and strategic transactions.
Rick A. Harrington, currently senior vice-president, legal, and general counsel for Conoco, has been named senior vice-president, legal, and general counsel.
Questar Corp., Salt Lake City, announced the promotion of Keith O. Rattie to president and CEO effective May 1.
Presently, Rattie serves as Questar president and chief operating officer. He will succeed CEO Don Cash, who will remain the company's chairman. Rattie joined Questar at his present position in February 2001. He previously served as senior vice-president for Coastal Corp. and president and CEO of Coastal Gas Services Co., both based in Houston.
Before that, he worked for Chevron Corp. in various engineering and management positions.
Former executives of Shenandoah Energy Inc. and Cody Energy LLC have formed a new firm, Ox Bow Energy Corp. All three companies are based in Denver.
The new firm will focus on acquisition and exploitation of oil and gas producing properties in onshore basins to include the Rocky Mountains, the Midcontinent, and Permian basin, the companies said.
Heading up the new firm as chairman, president, and CEO will be Mitchell L. Solich, formerly CEO of Denver-based Shenandoah Energy, which was sold to Questar Corp. in August 2001. "Ox Bow's strategy is to acquire and further exploit underdeveloped oil and gas fields to generate growth and shareholder value," Solich said.
In the position of senior vice-president, corporate development, will be Geoff Solich, formerly with Cody Energy, which was acquired by Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. in August 2001.
Terry Sherban, formerly with Venoco Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., will join Ox Bow as vice-president, engineering, and Dan Taylor, formerly with Cody Energy, will serve as vice-president, accounting, and finance.
Effective May 2, Ray Seegmiller has announced that he will retire from his position as chairman and CEO of Cabot Oil & Gas. Seegmiller will be succeeded by Dan O. Dinges, who joined Cabot as president and chief operating officer in September 2001 (OGJ, Sept. 24, 2001, p. 46). Dinges will retain his role as the company's president.
Before joining Cabot, Dinges worked for 20 years with Noble Affiliates Inc., Houston.
Alan Cunningham has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Swift Energy New Zealand Ltd., a unit of Swift Energy Co., Houston. Separately, Gerald P. Long has been promoted to vice-president, production operations, of Swift Energy.
Cunningham, with more than 25 years in the oil and gas industry, previously held positions of similar capacities for Entegrity Ventures International, Union Texas Petroleum Holdings, and the former Mobil Oil Corp.
Long has been with Swift Energy since April 2001 as director, production operations. Among Long's responsibilities will be to reduce the company's operating costs in its core areas and to oversee the continued development of Lake Washington field in Louisiana, said Terry Swift, Swift Energy president and CEO (OGJ Online, Apr. 2, 2001).
Berry Petroleum Co. has appointed Michael Duginski as vice-president, corporate development. Most recently, Duginski was responsible for new business development and gas and power operations for Texaco Inc. in California and Southeast Asia.
Duginski has also held positions responsible for acquisitions, divestitures, and associated negotiations; commodity sales; and new business development. Duginski also has extensive experience with California heavy oil and power development.
Midstream moves
Deborah Macdonald, president of Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL), will assume additional responsibilities June 1 as president of natural gas pipelines for Kinder Morgan Inc., and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, both based in Houston. Kinder Morgan is NGPL's parent firm.
Macdonald succeeds outgoing president William V. Allison, who will retire.
Macdonald has served as president of Trans- western Pipeline Co. and has held numerous other management and legal positions during her 20 years in the energy industry.
Terrence L. Ruder was named vice-president and general manager, marketing and midstream division, of Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City.
He has been with Devon since 1999, most recently serving as president of gas pipeline subsidiary Thunder Creek Gas Services in Wyoming.
Ruder held various marketing and business development positions with BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. and BHP's power unit before joining Devon and has more than 25 years of energy industry experience in both US and non-US capacities.
Petrochemicals appointments
Sumitomo Mitsui Polyolefin Co. Ltd. (SMPO)-a new 50:50 polyolefins joint venture of Mitsui Chemicals Inc. and Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd.-will start up Apr. 1
Named as SMPO's chairman is Ryuichi Sonoda, formerly of Sumitomo. SMPO's president will be Yoshiyuki Sakaki, who is from Mitsui.
Doug Culpon has been named vice-president, petrochemicals, of Huntsman Corp., Salt Lake City. Culpon has been with Huntsman since 1994, when the company acquired Texaco Chemical Co. from Texaco Inc. (OGJ, Sept. 20, 1993, p. 36). Culpon began his career with DuPont Corp.. He joined Texaco Chemical in 1988 as a senior engineer at the firm's Port Arthur, Tex., complex.
While with Huntsman, Culpon has held numerous executive-level positions in market development, sales, marketing, and business management.