Stone Energy Corp.’s founder and chairman, James H. Stone, has passed away. Stone started his first oil and gas company over 55 years ago and brought Stone Energy Corp. public in 1993. David Welch, CEO, stated, “He built Stone Energy into a premier energy company, and his positive influence on the company will continue long after his death. Jimmy provided the company with great leadership, enthusiasm, and business savvy during his tenure as CEO and chairman. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.” Stone was a decorated Marine Corps officer in World War II and the Korean War. He was a graduate of Williams College, and attended Texas A&M graduate school. He was 82 years old. Stone Energy is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Lafayette, La., and is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation, development, and operation of oil and gas properties located primarily in the Gulf of Mexico.
Occidental elects Chazen president, CFO
Occidental Petroleum Corp. has elected Stephen I. Chazen as president and CFO. Chazen joined Occidental in 1994 as executive vice president - corporate development. He was named CFO in 1999. Prior to joining Occidental, Chazen was a managing director in the investment banking group of Merrill Lynch & Co. Occidental Petroleum is an international oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the US, Middle East/North Africa, and Latin America regions.
Gaw accepts president post at CIT Energy
CIT Group Inc., a global commercial finance company, has named Peter Gaw as president of CIT Energy. Prior to joining CIT, Gaw was an executive vice president and head of energy and resources Americas and global head of power and utilities at ABN AMRO Bank.
Superior Offshore names Terry interim president, CEO
Superior Offshore International Inc.’s board has approved the appointment of E. Donald Terry, currently an independent director of Superior Offshore, as the company’s interim president and CEO until a successor is named. His appointment followed James J. Mermis’ resignation as president, CEO and a director of the company. Mermis plans to join Kaplan Industry as its president of technical operations. Terry has over 45 years of experience in the subsea construction and commercial diving industry. Superior Offshore is a provider of subsea construction and commercial diving services to the offshore oil and gas industry.
Aurora acquires Acadian, makes management changes
Aurora Oil & Gas Corp. plans to acquire Acadian Energy LLC for roughly $12.5 million (paid primarily in restricted stock) and has made key changes to Aurora’s management team. Acadian Energy is a private company focused on unconventional natural gas exploration and production in the New Albany shale. The founder and president of Acadian Energy, John E. McDevitt, has agreed to join Aurora Oil & Gas as its president and COO and has been appointed to Aurora’s board of directors. The board has also appointed Barbara E. Lawson to CFO and Gilbert A. Smith to vice president of business development. Lawson has over 26 years of experience and Smith brings nearly 40 years of experience. Ronald E. Huff has resigned from his roles as president, CFO, and director of Aurora Oil & Gas. John V. Miller has resigned as vice president of business development to lead a privately held oil and gas exploration company.
Christopher Larsen named new president, COO at Allegro
Allegro, a provider of energy trading and risk management software solutions, has appointed Christopher Larsen to president and COO. He has over 25 years of experience in the enterprise software industry, most recently as executive vice president of global field operations at TIBCO Software. Larsen has held previous senior leadership roles at DecisionOne, Verticalnet, and SAP America.
Elligson resigns president post at Blue Parrot Energy
Bill Elligson has resigned as president of Blue Parrot Energy Inc., citing health reasons. As part of the restructuring, the board has appointed Paul Patton as the interim CEO and Gordon Harris as interim non-executive chairman. In addition, Robert Verbuck has resigned as corporate secretary in order to focus the on legal matters related to the restructuring.
Falcon names Wallis COO, Edwards senior VP, special projects
Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. has appointed Rod Wallis as its new COO. Dr. James Edwards has elected to assume the new position of senior vice president, special projects. Prior to joining Falcon, Wallis was the senior exploration geologist for PetroHunter Energy Corp. He has been in the oil and gas industry for 22 years, including 11 years with BP, and five years with Venture Production. He obtained his degree at the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. is a British Columbia corporation in the business of oil and gas exploration and production.
Foster joins Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
Houston-based Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. LLC, the energy investment and merchant banking firm, has added Joe B. Foster to the firm as chairman of TPH Partners LLC, a newly formed subsidiary that is focused on private investment opportunities. Foster founded Newfield Exploration Co. in 1989. He served as CEO until his retirement from active management in 2000, and remained as chairman until May 2005. Prior to Newfield, Foster was chairman of Tenneco Oil Co. and executive vice president and director of its parent, Tenneco Inc. Foster graduated from Texas A&M University with bachelor’s degrees.
Morton accepts, McKinnon resigns post at Reece Energy
Tom Morton has joined Reece Energy Exploration Corp. as production operations manager. He brings over 23 years of experience in supervising and managing oilfield operations which include time spent with Amoco, Penn West, EnCana, and Canetic. Doug McKinnon has resigned from his positions of COO, vice president of exploration, and as a director. There are no immediate plans to replace the vacant directorship. The COO position will remain vacant until management finds a suitable replacement. Reece is a publicly held oil and gas company headquartered in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.
TXCO Resources fills vacant position
San Antonio-based TXCO Resources Inc. has elected James L. Hewitt as an independent director, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Stephen M. Gose Jr. in December 2006. Hewitt will complete Gose’s term which extends until the company’s 2009 annual meeting. Hewitt is chairman, president, and CEO of Hewitt Financial Consulting Inc. of Orlando. In 2000, he formed United Heritage Bank of Orlando and served as chairman of the bank and its holding company until their sale to Marshall & Ilsley Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2007. He earned a degree from Florida State University.
Victoria Bay promotes Hyland to head investments
Victoria Bay Asset Management LLC has promoted John T. Hyland, an investment professional with over 20 years in portfolio management and product development, to the position of chief investment officer of the manager/sponsor of commodity-based ETFs. He had previously been the director of portfolio research at Victoria Bay. He will remain a portfolio manager for the United States Oil Fund LP, the United States Natural Gas Fund LP, and the United States 12 Month Oil Fund LP. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
GMX Resources CFO retires
Oklahoma City-based GMX Resources Inc.’s co-founder, Ken L. Kenworthy Sr., has retired as executive vice president, CFO, secretary, and treasurer of the company. He remains as a director and will provide transition services as a consultant. Jim Merrill, formerly the company controller has become CFO, secretary, and treasurer. Prior to joining GMXR, Merrill was controller of National American Insurance Co. He has bachelor’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma.
Wood Group adds Renfroe as group director, well support
John Wood Group PLC has named Jim Renfroe as group executive director responsible for the well support division. He has also joined the board. Prior to joining Wood Group, he had a 30 year career with Halliburton, most recently as senior vice president, strategy.
Norwood Resources taps DiStefano as COO
Norwood Resources Ltd. has named Lee DiStefano to the position of COO. DiStefano has more than 27 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. In 2005, he formed Shockwave Energy LLC, a company focused on the GOM area and joins Norwood after most recently working with Noble Energy as exploration manager for Latin America and Far East and acting resident manager for Noble Nicaragua. He has a master’s degree from Rice University and holds an MBA from the University of Houston.
Backmeyer new Birchcliff vice president of engineering
Lawrence Backmeyer has been appointed to vice president of engineering at Birchcliff Energy. Backmeyer has over 27 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He graduated from the University of British Columbia with a bachelor’s degree.
McGowan new COO at Eaglewood Energy
Michael McGowan has been appointed COO of Eaglewood Energy Inc. He has 22 years of upstream international oil and gas experience with British Petroleum, Santos Ltd., and Oil Search Ltd. Previously, he served as the Papua New Guinea drilling manager for Oil Search.
Aker Kvaerner gets new name, new president and CEO
Simen Lieungh, a former Aker Kvaerner executive vice president and 20-year company veteran, has been appointed president and CEO of Aker Kvaerner ASA. Lieungh is a graduate of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Lieungh will succeed Martinus Brandal as president and CEO. Brandal will be nominated as the new chairman of Aker Kværner ASA, and has been appointed executive vice president responsible for the energy technologies sector in Aker ASA. In other news, the company has stated that the new name, Aker Solutions, is part of a longstanding relationship with Aker Holdings.
Gulf Keystone names new numbers man
Gulf Keystone Petroleum appointed Kristian ‘Ewen’ Ainsworth as finance director. Ainsworth replaces Jon Cooper who stepped down as finance director and as a board member. Ainsworth has more than 20 years experience in the oil and gas industry. Prior to joining Gulf Keystone, he was finance director of Europa Oil & Gas plc.
Deep Down hires corporate controller
Deep Down Inc. has hired Michael Teal to fill the position of corporate controller. Since 1984, Teal has held various positions in accounting, treasury, and corporate finance functions with major energy companies, most notably Valero Energy Corp., The Coastal Corp., and El Paso Corp. Deep Down specializes in the provision of innovative solutions, installation management, engineering services, support services, custom fabrication and storage management services for the offshore subsea control, umbilical, and pipeline industries.
Ryder Scott promotes Lam to manager of Canadian ops
Ryder Scott Canada in Calgary has promoted Howard Lam from senior vice president to managing senior vice president of Canadian operations. He has more than 30 years experience in the oil and gas industry, primarily in reservoir engineering and management and in reserves evaluation. Lam has worked at Ryder Scott petroleum consultants for more than 10 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from McGill University and an master’s degree from the University of British Columbia. Ryder Scott Canada is a branch of Houston-based Ryder Scott Co. LP. The Calgary firm conducts a full range of geological and reservoir engineering studies to estimate petroleum reserves and field economics.
King appoints Harris as chairman of the board
Norris R. Harris has replaced James Fajack as chairman of the King Resources board. Fajack will remain as vice chairman and CFO of King Resources.
Teton Energy appoints Scott Hagemann reservoir engineering manager
Teton Energy Corp. has named Scott G. Hagemann to the position of reservoir engineering manager. He has over 16 years of experience in the energy industry. From 2006 to 2007 Hagemann served as the general manager and director of the Greater Natural Buttes asset in northeastern Utah for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Hagemann has an MBA from the University of Colorado and a bachelor’s degree from the Colorado School of Mines.
Senior geologist David joins Pantera advisory board
Pantera Petroleum Inc. has added Jim David to its board of advisors. David brings more than 44 years of geological evaluation experience with major multi-national oil exploration companies to Pantera Petroleum. David is currently vice president, development and exploration, and director for Bridge Energy where he is responsible for geological evaluation of all potential reserve acquisitions, as well as recommendations as to all proposed drilling locations and supervision of all geological work. David graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana Tech University and earned his master’s degree from the University of Missouri.
