Flotek appoints Neyman senior vice president, CFO

Jesse E. “Jempy” Neyman has been appointed senior vice president and CFO of Flotek Industries. Neyman has served as vice president of business development for Flotek since December 2006. Before joining Flotek, Neyman held several senior management positions, including CEO of CGAS Inc., an Ohio E&P company and president of Enron Wind. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Air Force Academy, bachelor’s of science equivalent from the University of Texas for the United States Air Force, a master’s degree from the University of Utah, and an MBA from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

VAALCO taps Hullinger CFO to succeed Sheirman

Houston-based VAALCO Energy Inc. has named Gregory R. Hullinger to CFO. Hullinger succeeds W. Russell Scheirman, who will continue as VAALCO’s president and will assume the additional position of COO. Hullinger joins VAALCO with more than 30 years of finance, accounting, and tax experience at Shell Oil Co. and its parent company, Royal Dutch Shell. He most recently served as the global finance implementation manager for a Shell-wide records management initiative. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University.

Peter Voser to step up as Shell’s next chief executive

Peter Voser will succeed Jeroen van der Veer as chief executive at Royal Dutch Shell, effective July 1, 2009. Voser has served as CFO and a director of the board since October 2004. Voser joined the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies in 1982 and has held a number of finance and business roles in Switzerland, Argentina, Chile, and the UK until March 2002. He then joined Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. as CFO, returning to Shell four years ago. Voser graduated from the University of Applied Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland.

Rowan CEO to retire

Rowan Companies Inc.’s CEO, Daniel F. McNease, will retire at the end of 2008. He has worked for the company for 34 years. McNease joined the company in 1974. He was appointed president in 2002 and CEO in 2003 and elected chairman in 2004. McNease has served on the company’s board since 1998. He intends to retire from all positions with the company.

Stice accepts senior VP role with Chesapeake, named COO of CMP

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has hired J. Mike Stice as senior vice president – natural gas projects and president and COO of Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP. He joins Chesapeake after spending 27 years with ConocoPhillips where he most recently served as president of ConocoPhillips Qatar. He graduated with a master’s degree from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Saudi Aramco appoints new president, CEO

Khalid A. Al-Falih has been appointed president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, effective January 1, 2009. Al-Falih, currently executive vice president of operations, will succeed Abdallah S. Jum’ah, who has decided to retire after 40 years of service to Saudi Aramco, including nearly 14 years as president and CEO. Al-Falih has worked for Saudi Aramco for nearly 30 years and is in his fifth year as a member of the board. Al-Falih joined Saudi Aramco in 1979 and was sponsored to study at Texas A&M University in College Station, where he earned a bachelor’s degree. He earned a master’s degree at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

Chet Morrison Contractors hires Ferron as new CEO

Chet Morrison Contractors has hired Martin R. Ferron as CEO of the company and its affiliates. Ferron has also been elected a director. Chet Morrison, founder of the company, will assume the title of executive chairman. Prior to joining the company, Ferron served as the president, CEO, and a member of the board of directors of Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. Ferron has 28 years of worldwide experience in the oilfield industry. He holds a degree from City University, London; a master’s degree from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow; and an MBA from the University of Aberdeen.

Devon’s Larry Nichols named API chairman

API (formerly the American Petroleum Institute) board of directors elected J. Larry Nichols, chairman and CEO of Devon Energy Corp., as chairman of API’s board, effective Jan. 1, 2009. Nichols also will chair the trade association’s 25-member policy committee and 10-member executive committee. Nichols is the first CEO of an independent oil and natural gas company to become chairman of API. Nichols is a co-founder of Devon and a director since 1971. He was named chairman of the board of directors in 2000. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Kerogen Resources adds to executive management

Houston-based Kerogen Resources has recently made management additions. Ronald Harrell recently joined Kerogen Resources Inc. as chairman of the board after retiring from his position as chairman and CEO for Ryder Scott Co. Harrell began his career at Ryder Scott as a reservoir engineer in 1968 and worked his way through various technical and managerial positions. He was named president in 1998 and CEO in 2000. Michael Reddin was recently named president and CEO. He has 26 years of upstream oil and gas experience. At Vastar Resources Reddin served as onshore US business unit leader, manager of business development, and manager of corporate planning. He graduated from Texas A&M University. Kerogen specializes in unconventional gas shale opportunities.

Anadarko Petroleum makes financial org promotions

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has made a number of promotions including M. Cathy Douglas as vice president and chief accounting officer. Douglas has nearly 30 years of experience with Anadarko. She has held positions of increasing responsibility, including her most recent position of corporate controller. Bruce W. Busmire has been named vice president, finance and treasurer. Busmire started in the energy industry in 1980 and joined Anadarko in 2006 as vice president, chief accounting officer. Katie Jackson was promoted to the position of vice president, corporate development. Jackson joined Anadarko in 2005, after working for UBS Investment Bank in London and Houston in energy banking. Most recently, she has been responsible for the company’s acquisition and divestiture activities. Al Richey will continue with Anadarko as a vice president reporting to Al Walker, senior vice president, finance and CFO. He joined Anadarko in 1987 and has served as vice president, corporate development as well as vice president and treasurer during his career with Anadarko.

Westlake Securities names VP, controller

Scott Bartley has joined Austin-based Westlake Securities as vice president and controller. He holds responsibility for accounting and financial reporting and will be involved in serving clients in the firm’s financial advisory practice. Prior to joining Westlake, Bartley was a senior manager in the Austin office of Deloitte, where he worked in the assurance and transaction advisory groups. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Texas. Westlake Securities is a privately-held partnership that provides investment banking and advisory services to a select group of emerging growth and middle-market companies.

Foster Wheeler CEO signs on for another three years

Raymond J. Milchovich, chairman and CEO of Foster Wheeler Ltd., has signed a new three-year agreement to continue to lead the company.

ATP’s CEO receives 2008 Rhodes Petroleum Industry Leadership Award

ATP Oil & Gas Corp.’s chairman and CEO, T. Paul Bulmahn, was honored with the 2008 Rhodes Petroleum Industry Leadership Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers - International Petroleum Technology Institute (ASME-IPTI). The award is the principal award of ASME designed to honor significant contributions to the petroleum industry demonstrated through management and motivational skills, entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership within corporate and industry circles. ASME is a professional organization focused on technical, educational, and research issues of the engineering and technology community. Houston-based, the IPTI represents: the ocean, offshore and arctic engineering, the petroleum division, and the pipeline systems division.

Romanow to succeed Fischer in Nexen CEO post in 2009

Charlie Fischer, Nexen’s president and CEO, will retire from his positions and from the board of directors at the end of the year. He joined Nexen in 1994 as senior vice president, North American operations and in 1997 he was promoted to executive vice president and COO. In 2001 he was appointed president and CEO and joined the board. Effective January 1, 2009, Marvin Romanow will succeed him as president, CEO, and a director. Romanow has been CFO since 1998 and was promoted to executive vice president in 2001. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan, holds an MBA, and is a graduate of Harvard’s Management Development Program and INSEAD’s Advanced Management Program.

Exxon Mobil changes governance structure

Exxon Mobil has made changes to its corporate governance guidelines to enhance the role of presiding director. Under the changes, a presiding director is selected by non-employee directors from among their members and would generally be expected to serve a minimum term of two years. Non-employee directors have selected Samuel J. Palmisano, chairman, president, and CEO of IBM Corp., to be presiding director. Previously, the chair of the board affairs committee and the chair of the compensation committee presided at non-employee director executive sessions on an alternating basis. The presiding director has the authority to call and chair executive sessions of the non-employee directors, and will chair all board meetings in the absence of the chairman. The presiding director will review board meeting topics, agendas and schedules with the chairman prior to distribution to the board, which consists of one employee and 10 non-employees.

Lee Van Atta joins Black & Veatch

Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting and construction company, has named Lee Van Atta to the Enterprise Management Solutions division as a director in the Market Analysis practice. Van Atta is a market analyst with more than 15 years of energy industry experience. In his role with EMS, Van Atta will lead client engagements related to natural gas price forecasting and market assessments. Prior to joining Black & Veatch, Van Atta directed an energy markets practice, and led a fuel market strategies practice at a national consulting organization. Van Atta graduated with a bachelor’s degree from James Madison University and earned a master’s degree from George Washington University.

Pride appoints new VP, CFO for jackup business

Pride International has appointed Steven A. Manz to the position of vice president and CFO of the mat-supported jackup rig business. Manz was most recently a director of research for the investment bank Simmons & Co. International until August 2008. From January 2005 to September 2007, he was with Hercules Offshore Inc. where he last served as senior vice president of corporate development and planning, and had previously held the position of CFO. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Der joins DOE

The US Department of Energy has selected Dr. Victor K. Der as the new Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for fossil energy. Der will be responsible for office operations and, in support of the Assistant Secretary, he will manage the oversight of fossil energy’s research and development program and the US Petroleum Reserves. Most recently, Der was the deputy assistant secretary for clean coal. He also served as director of the Office of Clean Energy Systems. Der has worked at DOE for 35 years in various programs. He holds a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a PhD from the University of Maryland.

Blake International adds to management team

Blake International USA Rigs LLC of Houma, La. has appointed Ray Rebstock Jr. to vice president of operations for US and Mexico. Daniel Cheramie has been promoted to senior operations manager. Ray Rebstock and Daniel Cheramie have a combined oilfield industry experience of 59 years. Most recently, both worked in the platform management sector for Pride Offshore.

Waldron appointed CFO at Technip

Technip has named Julian Waldron the company’s new CFO. He is also a member of the executive committee. Waldron joins from Thomson where he was CFO from 2001 and interim CEO from March 2008 to August 2008. He is a graduate of Cambridge University. He succeeds Olivier Dubois, who had served as CFO since June 2002; he leaves Technip to give a new direction to his career. Technip operates in the fields of project management, engineering and construction for the oil and gas industry.

Spectrum names new CFO

Spectrum ASA has hired Rhys Edwards as CFO. The company’s goal is to develop Spectrum ASA into a self-sufficient independent listed company after it was spun-out from Global Geo Services ASA (GGS). Spectrum had made an interim agreement with the former owner GGS for hiring of certain financial services including CFO Jon A. Elde and his financial organization. The scope of this agreement will gradually be reduced during the three month transition period that started in November.

Compressco appoints Foster president

Compressco, a provider of natural gas production enhancement services has named Ron Foster as president. Foster has served as Compressco’s senior vice president of sales and marketing since 2002. He brings more than 30 years of executive management, operations, marketing and sales management experience. Prior to Compressco, Foster held senior management positions with Wood Group ESP and the Wheatley Gaso pump group of Halliburton. He received a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University.