Energy Players

GarlandThe board of directors of ConocoPhillips has chosen the leaders for the two independent energy companies that will result from the previously announced strategic repositioning of ConocoPhillips. Ryan M. Lance will become the chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, the upstream company, and Greg C. Garland will become the chairman and CEO of the downstream company. Jim Mulva, the current chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips will retire subsequent to completion of the separation. The repositioning is expected to be completed in 2Q12. Lance is currently senior vice president, Exploration and Production, International for ConocoPhillips. A petroleum engineer, he has over 26 years of oil and natural gas industry experience in senior management and technical positions with ConocoPhillips, predecessor Phillips Petroleum and various divisions of ARCO. Garland is currently senior vice president, Exploration and Production, Americas for ConocoPhillips. He began his career as a project engineer with Phillips Petroleum and has been associated with ConocoPhillips, its predecessors and affiliated companies for over 31 years. From 2008 to 2010, he was president and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. ConocoPhillips' interest in this joint venture will be transferred to the downstream company following the separation. Both appointments will become effective at the completion of ConocoPhillips' repositioning transaction next year. Lance and Garland will continue in senior management roles until that time, while also directing transition plans, including appointment of their executive management teams.

Saratoga Resources names Aldridge CFO

Houston-based Saratoga Resources has appointed Michael O. Aldridge as executive vice president and CFO. Aldridge has more than 16 years of public company executive-level financial and accounting experience in the energy industry, including serving in multiple executive positions with Petroquest Energy and Ocean Energy. Aldridge has served as a financial consultant to the energy industry since 2009. From 2000 to 2008, he served in various executive roles with Petroquest, including executive vice president, CFO, and treasurer. Prior to that, he spent seven years with Ocean Energy, where he served as controller and later as vice president of corporate communications. He also was employed by Ernst & Young for 11 years, where he attained the level of senior manager. Aldridge holds a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University and is a CPA. Edward Hebert has resigned from the company as vice president – finance and chief accounting officer.

Dril-Quip CEO steps down

Chairman, president and the last of the three co-founding CEOs of Dril-Quip Inc., Mike Walker, has retired. John Lovoi was appointed chairman. Lovoi has been a director since May 2005, is a managing partner at JVL Advisors, a private energy investment company, and is also a director of Helix. Blake DeBerry was appointed president and CEO and will replace Walker on the board. He has been an employee since 1988, holding several management and engineering positions in DRQ's domestic and international offices, most recently serving as SVP Sales and Engineering. James Gariepy was appointed COO. He has held domestic and international management positions since joining DRQ in 2004, most recently serving as SVP Manufacturing, Project Management and Service. In May, Dril-Quip disclosed that both DeBerry and Gariepy had been promoted to senior vice president and were being groomed for senior management roles, said Global Hunter Securities (GHS) in a note to investors October 21, but, while they said the timing of Walker's departure as CEO is not necessarily a surprise, they do see the suddenness of the retirement affecting stock trades. What did come as a surprise noted GHS was Walker's decision to leave the board. Walker is the largest shareholder with 3.7 million shares, or 9.3%. As for DeBerry, GHS believes he "knows the business inside and out, has a global focus and will bring a more traditional corporate structure to DRQ."

Artificial Lift appoints Puhala as VP, CFO

PuhalaArtificial Lift Company (ALC), an artificial lift service company in the oil and gas industry, has appointed Andrew Puhala as vice president and CFO. Puhala brings more than 18 years of financial experience within the oil and gas industry to his position with ALC. Prior to his appointment at ALC, Puhala worked at Baker Hughes Inc. for 15 years serving in different roles in the US, London and Dubai. Most recently, he served as vice president of finance for Corporate Development, based in Houston. Before working for Baker Hughes, Puhala provided tax consulting and compliance services to energy industry clients for Arthur Andersen LLP. Puhala is a licensed CPA in Texas. He received a master's degree and a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Grubbs joins BDO natural resources practice as partner

GrubbsBDO USA LLP, an accounting and consulting organization, has appointed Mike Grubbs to assurance partner in the natural resources industry practice. Grubbs will be based in the firm's Houston office, where he will work with the firm's energy clients and focus primarily on SEC registrants. With more than 20 years of accounting and auditing experience, Grubbs has worked mainly with oilfield services and chemical manufacturing companies. His industry experience also includes exploration and production and midstream clients, and he has significant experience working on multinational engagements and SOX 404 integrated audits. Grubbs received his masters of accounting as well as his bachelor's degree from Rice University.

Rex Energy names new CEO, president

State College, PA-based Rex Energy Corp. has appointed Thomas C. Stabley as its CEO and Patrick M. McKinney as its president. Stabley will continue to serve as CFO while the company conducts a search for his replacement. He has been elected to serve on the company's board of directors in connection with his promotion. McKinney will continue to serve as COO. Stabley was a co-founder of Rex Energy in 2004 as CFO. Prior to his career at Rex Energy, he was vice president of accounting for Shaner Hotels where he worked with Rex Energy's chairman, Lance T. Shaner. Stabley has over 15 years of experience in capital markets, financial reporting, corporate finance and strategic planning. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh. McKinney has served as Rex Energy's executive vice president and COO since May 2010. Prior to joining Rex Energy, McKinney served as senior vice president of engineering for Cano Petroleum beginning in 2006. Before 2006, McKinney was at Pioneer Natural Resources where he was Strategic Worldwide Portfolio Manager. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Wyoming and a MBA from Pepperdine University.

McJunkin Red Man makes executive appointments

McJunkin Red Man Holding Corp. (MRC) has appointed James F. Underhill as executive vice president and COO – North America and James E. Braun as executive vice president and CFO. Both appointments become effective as of November 15, 2011. Braun is expected to begin employment with MRC in a transitional role on November 1, 2011 as executive vice president. In his role of COO – North America, Underhill will be responsible for all of MRC's US and Canadian operations, including the overall performance of our North American segment, the implementation and integration of any acquisitions in the region and the continued development of MRC's IT ERP platform. Braun will replace Underhill as MRC's CFO. Braun has served as CFO of Newpark Resources since 2006. Before joining Newpark, Braun was CFO of Baker Oil Tools. From 1998 until 2002, he was vice president, finance and administration, of Baker Petrolite. Braun received a bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a CPA. Underhill has been MRC's CFO since 2007. He has served in various finance roles since he joined the company in 1980. He has also had primary responsibility for acquisition and integration of over 30 businesses and has been involved in numerous implementations of electronic customer solutions. Underhill received his bachelor's degree from Lehigh University.

First Reserve adds two to infrastructure team

First Reserve Corp., a global private investment firm with a single focus in the energy and natural resource industries, has appointed Eduard Ruijs as a director and Ed Fidler as vice president in the infrastructure investment team. They will both be based in London. Ruijs joins from NIBC Infrastructure Partners in London, where he was an investment director and partner responsible for investing the NIBC European Infrastructure Fund. Prior to that, he was a principal with the European Energy Practice of The Boston Consulting Group in London. He has experience in conventional and renewable power generation, as well as energy distribution and storage infrastructure. Fidler brings extensive expertise having served as associate director of Macquarie Capital Funds, where he focused on European Infrastructure Funds.

PetroFrontier CEO takes on president role following Philipchuk resignation

PetroFrontier Corp.'s president, Matthew Philipchuk, has resigned in order to pursue other business opportunities in Australia. Paul Bennett, CEO of PetroFrontier, has also been appointed president. With an executive career spanning over 37 years in geoscience, mining and the oil and gas industry, Bennett has supervised technical geological and geophysical teams in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Western Canada, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. He has held the position of CEO of PetroFrontier since its formation on February 6, 2009. Concurrently, PetroFrontier is recruiting for the position of COO to lead its operations in Adelaide, South Australia.

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