IPAA chooses new executive leadership team

Houston-based international drilling contractor Atwood Oceanics Inc. has named Robert J. "Rob" Saltiel as president and CEO. John R. Irwin, the company's president and CEO since 1993, has retired but may continue as an employee until July 31, 2010, to provide for an appropriate transition. Saltiel has been nominated to Atwood's board of directors, which will be decided during the company's annual shareholders meeting on Feb. 11. Irwin will serve out his current term on the board but will not stand for reelection. Saltiel brings to his new role more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry with companies such as ExxonMobil, Nabors Industries, McKinsey & Company, and Transocean. Most recently he was executive vice president and COO at Transocean. Saltiel has a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Johnson succeeds Deason as president and CEO of J. Ray McDermott SA

McDermott International Inc. has promoted Stephen M. Johnson, currently the company's president and COO, to president and CEO of J. Ray McDermott SA. He succeeds Robert A. Deason, who has retired. Separately, McDermott plans to separate its operating subsidiaries, The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W) and J. Ray, into two independent, publicly traded companies. Following the separation, McDermott intends to be renamed J. Ray McDermott SA, and McDermott shareholders will own 100% of two separate companies: B&W and J. Ray. Johnson will continue to serve as president and CEO of the newly independent J. Ray and will join the company's board of directors. Johnson has served as president and COO of McDermott since April 2009. He has more than 35 years of experience in the engineering and construction industry. Previously, he served as senior executive vice president and member, Office of the Chairman at Washington Group International. He holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and completed executive education in management and finance at Duke University.

Douglas Fears to retire, Tardio will be new CFO of Helmerich & Payne

Bracewell & Giuliani has added Joseph Tirone and Cheri Hoff to the firm. Tirone joins as a partner in the firm's energy practice in Washington D.C. He joins from McGuireWoods. Cheri Hoff has joined the firm's corporate and securities group as a partner in the New York office. Formerly with the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Hoff has focused her practice on the formation and operation of private investment funds, including hedge funds, real estate funds, funds of funds, and hybrid funds.

SBC opens new offices, adds to management team

Paris-based SBC, the management consultancy arm of Schlumberger, has expanded its global senior leadership team with the appointment of five vice president level staff. The management team appointments have been made in conjunction with the launch of four new offices in New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi. Herve Wilczynski (Houston) brings to SBC more than 15 years' experience in the energy sector. He will be leading projects aimed at helping E&P companies deploy new operating models, develop strategic plans, and improve capital project management capabilities, among other initiatives. Previously, Wilczynski was a managing partner for Booz Allen Hamilton. André Olinto joins the SBC Rio de Janeiro office with over 14 years of experience in electric power and natural gas consulting in Latin America. Olinto previously held a senior partner position at McKinsey & Co. Jerome Luciat-Labry (Abu Dhabi) has worked in energy and consulting since 1992 and joins the SBC Middle East office with a wealth of experience gleaned most recently at McKinsey & Co., where he held the title of senior partner. Olivier Perrin (Paris) joined SBC in September 2006 as a senior project manager and has recently been promoted to vice-president. Aileen Chang (Singapore) has nearly 10 years of experience in management consulting across Asia, the Middle East, and North America. She is focused on advising oil and gas companies on issues relating to strategy, capability, and program management. Chang previously held positions at Booz Allen Hamilton in the US and Deloitte Consulting in Hong Kong.

Mike Dear is new Mustang CFO

Mustang has appointed Mike Dear as CFO. He succeeds Meg Lassarat, who served as Mustang's CFO since 2002. Dear has more than 20 years' experience in the oil and gas service industry and comes to Mustang from Wood Group, Mustang's parent company, where he has served as group financial controller since 2006. He has been with Wood Group since 2004, and prior to his role as group controller, he was CFO of Wood Group's Light Industrial Turbines business.

John White joins Triple Double Advisors

John White has joined Triple Double Advisors LLC (TDA) as vice president. He will be involved in research and the marketing effort. TDA is an institutional investment firm formed by Art Smith, former chairman and CEO of John S. Herold Inc. The primary investment strategy of TDA is low-turnover, long-term, and low-volatility portfolios built from a foundation of energy companies with exceptional management teams and demonstrated track records for building asset value per share through bull and bear energy markets.

New hires expand research, banking at Pritchard Capital

New Orleans-based Pritchard Capital Partners LLC, an independent energy investment bank and institutional financial services firm, has added two to its organization. The additions strengthen the company's investment banking practice and initiate coverage of the oilfield engineering and construction sector. Houston-based Brian Kerrigan has joined as senior vice president, investment banking; and Jeff Spittel has joined as a research analyst. Kerrigan recently served as managing director at CIT Group. He brings more than 20 years' experience in the energy industry both on the lending and equity/sponsor sides. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas and an MBA from Rice University. Spittel will be responsible for oilfield engineering and construction equity research. He has over five years' experience covering engineering and construction companies as well as energy macroeconomics. Previously, Spittel was a research analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder. He holds a bachelor's degree from Holy Cross and an MBA from Rice University. Additionally, the firm has hired two new senior vice presidents to its institutional sales team, Tyler Davis and William "Bull" Flaherty. Tyler recently served as managing director of US institutional sales for Macquarie Capital USA. He has over 30 years of experience in the industry and will be based in the New York City office. He holds degrees from Bowdoin College. Flaherty will be located in the Houston office. Prior to joining Pritchard Capital, he was a managing director at Natixis Bleichroeder specializing in energy research sales and has over 15 years' experience in institutional sales and trading. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas.

Ithaca's Turner retires, Wood named interim CFO

Steven Turner has retired from his position as CFO of Ithaca Energy Inc. to pursue other career opportunities. Norman Wood has been appointed as Ithaca's interim CFO. He has spent a large part of his career in the oil and gas industry in a variety of worldwide locations, including the UK, Norway, and South America. Wood has more than 30 years of experience in managing finance functions, mainly in his roles as finance manager in various countries for Total. He will assist Ithaca in the recruitment of a permanent CFO. Ithaca has engaged Wood for a six-month contract subject to extension. During that time, he will serve as a director of Ithaca's UK subsidiary.

Northern Offshore CEO Marion Woolie resigns

The president and CEO of Northern Offshore Ltd., Marion Woolie, has resigned. Woolie joined the company in October 2007. Jim LaChance, currently chairman of the board, will serve as interim president and CEO until a permanent replacement is appointed. The company expects to take a charge to expense of approximately $1.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 related to Woolie's employment agreement. Stock options to purchase 750,000 common shares of the company that were granted to Woolie in October 2007 will all become vested and exercisable for a period of 90 days, and 400,000 restricted shares of the company granted in January 2009 will all become vested and converted to shares of common stock. Northern Offshore is a Bermuda holding company that operates offshore oil and gas production and drilling vessels deployed around the world.

Denver-based Forest Oil shuffles management

Forest Oil Corp. has made several executive personnel changes. David H. Keyte resigned his position, effective Dec. 1, 2009, as executive vice president and CFO to pursue other private opportunities in the industry. Michael N. Kennedy, currently Forest's vice president, finance and treasurer, has been promoted to the position of executive vice president and CFO. He joined Forest Oil in 2001 serving in various financial capacities. Victor A. Wind has been promoted to senior vice president, chief accounting officer, and corporate controller. Wind joined Forest in 2005 and most recently served as vice president, chief accounting officer, and corporate controller. Patrick J. Redmond has been promoted to vice president, corporate planning and investor relations. Redmond joined Forest in 2003 and has most recently served as director of investor relations. Daniel R. Richardson has been promoted to treasurer. Richardson joined Forest in 2007 and has most recently served as managing director, corporate planning.

Bucking Horse Energy appoints Willows as CFO

Bucking Horse Energy Inc. has selected Dean Willows as its CFO, treasurer, and secretary. Willows holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Manitoba. He has more than 25 years of experience in the accounting industry. He is the controller of Bucking Horse as well as several other Canadian publicly listed companies. Bucking Horse Energy is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused in the Pinedale field, within the Green River basin of southwestern Wyoming.

BofA Merrill Lynch adds Becker, Yang to energy team

BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research has hired Douglas Becker and Gil Yang to its US energy team. Both will report to Doug Leggate, senior US integrated, exploration and production, and refining analyst. Becker is based in Houston and will cover the oil services sector. Yang will be based in New York and will cover mid-cap E&P companies. Becker joins the US Energy team from SMH Capital where he was a senior oil services and equipment analyst. Previously, he spent over 10 years at Banc of America Securities covering oil services and equipment, and integrated oils and independent refiners. He received his bachelor's degree from Indiana University. Yang joins from Citigroup where he was the senior analyst covering exploration and production and specialty chemicals for the last nine years. He received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, his PhD from the University of California, and his MBA from UCLA.

Foster Wheeler taps new CEO for upstream group

Foster Wheeler AG has appointed Clive Vaughan to the newly created post of CEO, Upstream Oil and Gas Group, in the company's Global Engineering and Construction Group. Vaughan joins from Endeavour International, where he was director of facilities engineering and new developments. He holds a bachelor's degree from the Polytechnic of Wales.

Craig moves to Shell, Galaev accepts CEO post at Sakhalin Energy

Andrei Galaev has been appointed CEO of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. He previously served as the company's deputy CEO. Galaev was nominated by Gazprom and approved by all shareholders. The company's previous CEO, Ian Craig, has taken a new position with Shell.

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