Energy Players

Pride International Inc. has named Rodney W. Eads to the position of executive vice president and COO, where he will assume responsibility for the company’s worldwide offshore operations and eastern hemisphere land assets. Eads joins from Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. where he has been senior vice president, worldwide operations and responsible for Diamond’s offshore drilling fleet. He was previously employed by Exxon Corp. Prior to that he was a senior drilling engineer with Arabian American Oil Co. and a petroleum engineer with Cities Service Co. He holds a BS degree from West Virginia Institute of Technology and a MBA degree from Rice University.

Baker Hughes shuffles executive staff

Baker has made four changes to its executive leadership team. Frank M. “Mike” Davis has been appointed president of Baker Hughes Russia Inc. reporting to Rod Clark, president and COO. In this role Davis will have responsibilities for all Baker Hughes operations in Russia. William P. “Wil” Faubel has been appointed vice president, enterprise marketing for Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations reporting to Doug Wall, vice president and group president, Baker Hughes Completion and Production, and to David Barr, vice president and group president, Baker Hughes Drilling and Evaluation. Paul S. Butero has been appointed president of Baker Atlas succeeding Faubel and will report to David Barr. Gary G. Rich has been appointed president of Hughes Christensen succeeding Butero and will report to David Barr.

Butero served as president of Hughes Christensen since February 2005. He joined Baker Hughes in 1981 and has served 25 years in a number of operations roles in the US and the eastern hemisphere before becoming vice president of marketing for Hughes Christensen in 2000. He earned his BS degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Faubel served as president of Baker Atlas since November 2005. He joined Baker Hughes as a field engineer for Hughes Tool Co. in 1977 and has held a variety of sales and management positions in both domestic and international regions. He received his BS from Southern Methodist University.

Rich served as vice president marketing drilling and evaluation for INTEQ since February 2005. He joined INTEQ as a senior financial analyst in 1987 and served in a number of marketing and operations positions. He received his BS from Brigham Young University and his MS degree from the University of Texas.

Davis served as vice president marketing for Hughes Christensen since February 2005. He joined Hughes Tool Co. in 1976 and has held a variety of positions in Baker Hughes. His career has included 12 years spent in management positions in the Middle East and Asia Pacific with Hughes Christensen.

Energy partner Brian Bradshaw joins Fulbright’s Houston office

Brian Bradshaw has joined Fulbright & Jaworski’s Houston office as an energy partner. Bradshaw’s practice is focused on cross-border and international projects, with an emphasis on the development and financing of LNG liquefaction and regasification terminals and other large-scale energy infrastructure projects. He joined the firm from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Bradshaw regularly represents energy project developers, commodity sellers and purchasers, lenders, investment banks and equity investors. He earned his JD from the University of Houston Law Center in 1995, his MBA from the University of Houston in 1995, and his BA from Washington University in 1991.

International arbitration and litigation partner Mike Lennon relocates to London

Mike Lennon, former deputy department head for the Baker Botts Houston trial department, has moved to the London office. Lennon is a specialized oil and gas and energy litigator, focusing primarily on production and operating agreement disputes, project disputes, joint venture disputes and construction matters. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Institute for Energy Law of The Center for American and International Law. He earned his JD from the University of Iowa College of Law, and a BS from the University of Iowa.

Dan Jordan retires from Riata Energy

Dan Jordan, senior vice president of services, has retired from Riata Energy Inc. He is retiring after more than 20 years in the service business. Jordan will retain his position on the company’s board of directors.

Robinson resigns from Gastar board

Thom Robinson has resigned as chairman of the board and as a member of the board of directors of Gastar Exploration Ltd. Robinson has resigned to devote his full time and efforts to Geostar Corp.’s Australian activities in the Gippsland Basin. Gastar’s board of directors appointed J. Russell Porter to the additional position of chairman of the board of directors. Gastar Exploration Ltd. is an exploration and production company focused on finding and developing natural gas assets in North America and Australia.

Endeavour names Transier chairman and CEO, Seitz becomes vice chairman

Endeavour International Corp.’s board of directors has named William L. Transier chairman, CEO, and president and John N. Seitz vice chairman of the board of directors. Transier will relocate to London and Seitz will serve in a consulting capacity based in the Houston office. Both formerly served as co-CEOs of the company. Previously, Transier served as executive vice president and CFO for Ocean Energy Inc. He began his career in public accounting with KPMG LLP. Previously, Seitz served as CEO, COO, and president of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Seitz began his career as a petroleum geologist with Amoco Production Co.

Morgan Creek Energy makes management changes

Morgan Creek Energy Corp. has made many management changes in recent months. The company appointed William P. Begley as manager of operations, and Blake K. Box as a director. The company has appointed Thomas Markham as chief geologist and director; and Erik Essiger and Marcus Johnson as directors. Finally, the company has appointed William B. Bolles as president and director.

Begley is a senior management executive with over 25 years of experience. He began his career at Halliburton. In 1995, he was the president for Texas Far East based in Dallas. Begley currently serves as vice president of Heartland Rig International.

Box joins the company’s board and will aid in the areas of M&A and financing support. He is the president and CIO of Shannon Investments Corp.’s strategic advisers group. Prior to joining Shannon, he was a vice president with a Houston-based realty group.

Markham is a professional geologist specializing in evaluations and management of oil and gas plays in the mid-continental US. He received his masters degree in geology. He began his career working with BEPCO, ARCO, and then TENNECO. Markham will work with the management team and advisory board to supervise the geological and land development operations of the company.

Essiger joins the board to aid in the field of mergers and acquisitions. He has served as a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, in Frankfurt, Germany. Essiger has 18 years’ experience of managing commercial due diligence and strategy development projects across a wide variety of sectors, in particular within the energy sector, media and telecommunications, as well as business services.

Johnson began working in the resource and energy sectors in the 1990s, first as a consultant to help structure operations, and later in the financing and investor communications field. He was president of investor Communications International.

Bolles is a skilled finance executive with experience in the oil and gas, real estate development, telecommunications, advertising and entertainment sectors. Bolles began working with major independent companies at the senior management and director level, including PetroTex Oil and Gas Co., Carothane Corp., and most recently Warwick Advisors Corp.

David Williams joins Noble as senior VP business development

Noble Corp. has named David W. Williams senior vice president - business development of Noble Drilling Services Inc. Williams comes to Noble with over 27 years in the energy industry. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. Prior to that, he held the position of senior vice president - contracts and marketing at Diamond. He holds a BBA degree from Texas A&M University.

Morse to serve as chief economist at Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers, the global investment bank, has appointed Edward Morse, PhD, as managing director and chief energy economist. Morse has been an analyst and commentator on the international oil and gas sector for nearly 30 years. Reporting to Paul Sheard, managing director and head of global economics research, Morse is based in New York and works closely with Lehman Brother’s fixed income energy business. Before joining Lehman Brothers, Morse was with Hess Energy Trading, where he provided strategic advice on oil and gas sector trends. Prior to that, he was publisher of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly and other oil and gas industry newsletters. He earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a doctorate from Princeton University.

Sunoco elects Jones to board of directors

Sunoco Inc. has named John P. Jones, III to its board of directors. Jones is currently chairman, president, and CEO of Air Products and Chemicals Inc. Sunoco Inc., headquartered in Philadelphia, is a manufacturer and marketer of petroleum and petrochemical products.

Kinnear to succeed Netherland as CEO of FMC Technologies

Joseph H. Netherland will be succeeded by Peter D. Kinnear as CEO of FMC Technologies. Kinnear will also join the company’s board of directors. Kinnear has been with FMC Technologies or its predecessor since 1971. He served in a variety of marketing and operating roles within the energy systems business. He was appointed president and COO of the corporation in 2006.

Credo names new finance chief

Oil producer Credo Petroleum has reduced its CFO’s role to a part-time position, named a new CFO, and added a full-time “manager of regulatory compliance.” David E. Dennis has been named CFO. He is an accountant in private practice who has worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Credo named Alford B. Neely as manager of regulatory compliance. He served as the company’s CFO from 1998 through 2000 before leaving to pursue personal business interests. He will report to Dennis.

Nova Energy expands management team; elects Powers to COO

Nova Energy Holding Inc. has appointed Jody Powers as COO. Powers is a member of Nova’s board of directors and currently serves as the chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee which he will relinquish to comply with the company’s independent director policy. He will report to chairman and CEO Kenneth Hern. J.D. McGraw, who previously filled a dual role of president and COO, will continue to serve as president of the company. Powers worked for Halliburton Energy Services for nearly 35 years serving in operations, business development, and manufacturing managerial positions. From 2000 until 2002, he served as president, Halliburton Energy Services.

NATCO Group’s CFO accepts new employment

NATCO Group Inc.’s senior vice president and CFO Richard W. FitzGerald has resigned to accept a similar position with another energy company. A search will begin immediately to fill the open position. In the meantime, the CEO will assume the additional duties of the CFO. Assisting in the oversight of those responsibilities will be Bradley P. Farnsworth in his continuing role as financial consultant.

New management team for Exxel

Exxel Energy Corp. has added three highly qualified oil and gas professionals to its management team. Clifford V. Adams is the company’s new CEO and president and will also join the board. Joining Adams as executive vice presidents are Michael Lou, EVP of finance and CFO, and Victor Barcot, EVP of business development and investor relations. The current chairman, CEO, and president, John R. Hislop, will remain as chairman of the board. The current CFO, Linda James, will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Adams brings over 20 years of experience in the upstream oil and natural gas industry. He most recently served as head of the global oil and gas group for Macquarie Securities Inc. Adams holds a BS from the University of Texas at Austin and MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Lou joins the company as executive vice president of finance and CFO. Lou’s prior experience includes serving as associate director of the global oil and gas group at Macquarie Securities Inc., vice president of the energy investment banking group at First Albany Capital, vice president of the Natural Resources Group at Banc of America Securities, and as an analyst for the Energy Group at Merrill Lynch. He holds a BS degree from Southern Methodist University.

Barcot joins the company as executive vice president of business development and investor relations. He has an energy investment banking and equity research background focusing in the exploration and production sector over the past 10 years, with significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, capital raising, equity research and investor relations. Barcot was most recently an associate director of the global oil and gas group for Macquarie Securities Inc. He earned his MBA and BBA from the University of Houston.

Willbros completes search for new CFO

Van Welch has been appointed by the Willbros Group Inc. board of directors to serve as senior vice president and CFO. He has over 25 years of experience in project controls, administrative and finance positions, most recently serving as vice president of finance for an E&C company. Willbros Group Inc. is an independent contractor serving the oil, gas, and power industries, producing engineering and construction, and facilities development, and operations services to industry and government entities worldwide.

Dragon Oil appoints CFO

Dragon Oil has appointed Gautam Sashittal as CFO. He has extensive experience within the oil and gas industry. He joins the company from Royal Dutch Shell plc where he acted in several roles, latterly as the head of internal reporting for the Royal Dutch Shell Group in London.

Changes and additions for Torrent management

Torrent Energy Corp. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Methane Energy Corp. and Cascadia Energy Corp. have made the following changes and additions to their management teams. Tom Deacon, vice president land for Torrent Energy Corp. and president of Cascadia has retired. He will continue to serve as a consultant to the company on an ongoing basis for the foreseeable future. Roger N. Canady, manager of lands for methane has been appointed vice president land for both Methane Energy Corp. and Cascadia Energy Corp. Canady joined Methane in October 2005 and has over 35 years of industry land experience. He has held senior managerial positions with Oryx Energy, Sun Exploration and Production, Union Oil, and Nuevo Energy.

Dominion E&P names new offshore VP

Dominion Exploration and Production, a subsidiary of Dominion, has appointed Richard L. “Rick” Fowler vice president and general manager, Gulf of Mexico pperations. The region includes Dominion E&P’s deepwater, continental shelf, and southern Louisiana assets. Fowler previously was general manager of deepwater development. Fowler has been with the company since 1996 when the offshore unit was still part of Consolidated Natural Gas Co. CNG merged with Dominion in 2000. Prior to joining CNG, Fowler performed reservoir engineering and operational duties for Exxon. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Anderson to head TransMontaigne GP

TransMontaigne Partners LP, Denver, has appointed Randall J. Larson president and CEO of TransMontaigne GP LLC, its general partner. Larson will continue to serve as CFO for TransMontaigne GP. He succeeds Donald H. Anderson, who has resigned. Anderson will continue to serve as non-executive chairman of TransMontaigne GP.

Oceaneering makes management appointments with Gerner, Mingoia

Oceaneering International has appointed W. Cardon Gerner as vice president and CAO. He was previously employed by Service Corp. International and Equity Corp. International, where he served in various management capacities within the finance and accounting functions. Prior to his employment with SCI and ECI, he was an audit partner at Ernst & Young LLP. He is a graduate of The University of Texas.

In related news, Oceaneering has promoted Robert P. Mingoia to vice president and treasurer. Mingoia’s financial business career spans 30 years in the oil and gas industry. He joined Oceaneering in 1989 as corporate controller and has served as treasurer since 1994. He is a graduate of The University of Texas.

W&T Offshore names new VP and treasurer

W&T Offshore has appointed Todd E. Grabois as vice president and treasurer. Grabois was most recently CFO for Texas Independent Exploration LTD, from 2001 to 2006. Prior to joining Texas Independent, he was with Benz Energy Inc. and Texstar Petroleum for 17 years, serving in various positions, including treasurer and secretary. He has a BS in accounting from the University of Delaware.

PetroLatina Energy names Refault as new CFO

PetroLatina Energy Plc has appointed Ian M. Refault as CFO. Refault brings 11 years of experience within the international oil and gas industry. He previously held senior finance and marketing positions at Petrokazakhstan Inc. and prior to that was finance director of the London office of Lukoil Overseas Ltd. and vice president of finance with Bitech Petroleum Corp. Geoffrey Killick resigned as CFO to pursue another opportunity.

Ivey retires from MarkWest; Masten to serve as acting CFO

Jim Ivey, CFO of MarkWest Hydrocarbon Inc. has retired. He cited the desire to pursue other family and personal interests in reaching his decision to retire. Nancy K. Masten has been named acting CFO while the board considers his replacement. Masten is currently the CAO. MarkWest Hydrocarbon Inc. controls and operates MarkWest Energy Partners LP, a publicly-traded limited partnership engaged in the gathering, processing, and transmission of natural gas; the transportation, fractionation, and storage of natural gas liquids; and the gathering and transportation of crude oil.

Brooks Range names vice president of land

Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Alaska Venture Capital Group LLC, has appointed Jim Winegarner vice-president of land and external affairs. He will also serve on the management team. Prior to his appointment, Winegarner, with more than 25 years in the industry, worked for ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.

Hercules Offshore names Rick McClaine VP of HSE

Hercules Offshore reports that Rick McClaine has joined the company as vice president - health, safety, and environmental. He has over 25 years of experience in operations, safety, training, and environmental affairs in the offshore drilling industry, primarily with GlobalSantaFe. Most recently, he worked with Syntex Management Systems. His responsibilities at Hercules Offshore will include establishing safety “standards of excellence”, ensuring compliance with HSE processes and systems throughout the company, and to further develop Hercules Offshore’s safety culture by standardizing and improving safety and training programs on a global basis.

Bronco Drilling promotes new head of drilling operations; former COO resigns

Bronco Drilling Co. Inc. has promoted Larry Bartlett to senior vice president of rig operations. Bartlett joined Bronco Drilling in October of 2005 subsequent to the company’s acquisition of Thomas Drilling Co. Prior to this he provided 30 years of service to Thomas Drilling including the last ten years as president. He graduated from Cameron University with a bachelor’s degree. The company also announced that Karl Benzer, former COO, will be leaving the company to pursue other business opportunities.

GeoTrace promotes Mark Carrigan to VP

Geotrace has promoted Mark Carrigan to vice president Western Hemisphere, Tigress Software. He will initiate and build the Tigress brand in the Western Hemisphere, assimilating Tigress into Geotrace and acting as the Geotrace liaison for Tigress integration. Carrigan combines a deep understanding of the software business with extensive knowledge of the market gained over 25 years of experience. Geotrace is part of the Geotrace Technologies group of companies and is a provider of proprietary technologies aimed at imaging and integrated solutions used to enhance the optimization of petroleum reservoirs.

Webber joins Energy Solutions as vice chairman and CEO

Energy Solutions International, the Houston-based global supplier of oil and gas pipeline management software, has appointed Dr. Jo Webber to vice chairman and CEO. Webber is an experienced software executive who has spent her career providing enterprise software solutions to many of the world’s leading corporations. Webber served as president and CEO of InnaPhase Corp. When the company was sold to Thermo Electron in 2004, she became vice president of Thermo Informatics. She earned a doctorate and a BS degree from the University of Nottingham Trent in the United Kingdom.

Trans-Orient Petroleum taps seasoned oil executive as director

Trans-Orient Petroleum Ltd. has appointed David Bennett PhD as a director. Bennett has extensive technical and hands-on operational experience, acquired in the course of a successful 30-year career during which he played a leading role in the discovery and development of several oil and gas fields in the Australasian region. He was most recently a co-founder and the CEO of Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. Bennett received a BA from Cambridge University, an MSc from the University of Leeds, and a doctorate from the Australian National University with post-doctoral work at the University of Texas at Dallas. Headquartered in Vancouver BC, Trans-Orient is pursuing oil and gas opportunities in New Zealand and the Southeast Asia region.

David replaces resigning Craig as director of Peyto Energy Trust

Brian Craig has resigned from Peyto Energy Trust as a director of Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. Peyto has appointed Brian Davis of Houston, Texas as an independent director of Peyto. Davis is a petroleum engineer who runs an independent oil and gas engineering consultancy firm based in Houston. He has over 18 years of oil and natural gas engineering experience. Davis is also a longstanding unitholder of the Trust.

Allied Energy restructures board and management

L. James Porter has joined the board of directors at Allied Energy Corp. Inc. He has over 20 years of experience as a financial professional and has served as a director and officer of numerous public companies. He was employed with Arthur Andersen & Co., where he was a senior manager. Since 2005 Porter has been the CFO and a director of General Metals Corp. He was also the CFO and a director of Tangerine Gold Inc. Pursuant to Porter’s appointment, Dr. David F. Hostelley has resigned as a member of the board.

MDU Resources director retires

Robert L. Nance has retired from MDU Resources Group Inc.’s board of directors. He was a member of the board since 1993 and served as a member of the nominating and governance committee and of the audit committee. His retirement was the result of a provision in the company’s bylaws that requires that outside directors retire when they reach age 70.