People in industry

Vol. 227 No. 8

The Peak Group appointed Tom Conlon as operations manager for the Dubai office. He started his career in 1975 as a drilling engineer with Loffland Brothers, working in the North Sea and Saudi Arabia, then moved to Marathon Oil, working in Indonesia and Europe, before joining the BG joint venture in Egypt in 2004 as drilling general manager.

Well Control School, a division of Cudd Pressure Control, named Edwin L. Geissler as operations manager. He is a former WCS instructor who rejoins after eight years with an international drilling company as senior manager of training and development. WCS was established over 25 years ago, and provides the energy industry with required and customized training programs.

EnCana Corp. appointed Mike Graham, executive VP and president, Canadian Foothills, as president of its Canadian Region, which is a consolidation of the company’s two upstream Canadian regions – Canadian Plains and Canadian Foothills. Bill Oliver, EnCana’s executive VP and president, Midstream & Marketing, takes over responsibility for the Canadian oil and natural gas businesses in the Athabasca region of northeastern Alberta, which includes the company’s oil sands operations.

Sam Laidlaw has joined Centrica plc as its new chief executive. He was previously executive VP of Chevron Corp. and had responsibility for large-scale business development worldwide. His earlier roles included CEO at Enterprise Oil, and president and COO at Amerada Hess.

InterMoor Inc., an Acteon company, named Victor Mitchell as fabrication shop manager for its Amelia, La., facility. Also, John Bryan and Cohen Guidry have been named managers of HSE/ HR training. Mitchell has over 36 years of industry experience, while Bryan has 13 years and Guidry has 15 years.

BJ Services Company appointed Gary Broiles senior region operations manager, Europe & Africa Region, with the Well Services Division. He has over 23 years of industry experience, and is involved in managing operations in West Africa, North Africa and Europe. Also, Marc Allenby was appointed Libya country manager for the same division. Previously, he served BJ in a variety of roles, most recently as business development manager for the Middle East Region in Dubai.

Katie Muck has been named director of public relations at Foster Marketing Communications. Muck, a graduate of Kansas State University, has been involved in a variety of professional organizations, including the Journalism Education Association.

The board of directors of CARBO Ceramics Inc. appointed Gary Kolstad as president and CEO. He succeeds Jesse P. Orsini, who has served as interim CEO since December 2005. Kolstad has more than 20 years of experience in the oilfield service industry and had been with Schlumberger, Ltd., since 1985.

Caspian Holdings Plc has appointed Essien Umoren as operations manager and Dom Del Borrello as CFO of the company. Umoren has a 14 years of experience, including three years with Shell and, more recently, 11 years with Schlumberger, where he worked extensively in Kazakhstan and the Caspian Region as well as in Nigeria and Texas as a senior petrophysicist. Borrello has extensive experience in finance in the resources industry. Previously, he was group manager, Treasury and Risk, for Iluka Resources.

CTES, L.P., a National Oilwell Varco affiliate, named Ed Smalley senior VP responsible for sales, manufacturing and engineering initiatives. Previously, he served as VP of Business Development.

Oceaneering International has promoted Kevin Kerins to VP and general manager, Remotely Operated Vehicles. Kerins has been with Oceaneering for 28 years, most recently as VP, Eastern Region ROV. In 1994, he conceived the design for the Hydra Magnum vehicle, which has been the platform for over 150 vehicles added to the company fleet.

Sonoran Energy, Inc., appointed Frank T. Smith, Jr., executive VP and CFO. Smith has more than 30 years of professional and commercial banking experience with the oil and gas industry. Most recently, he was senior VP, Finance, at Remington Oil and Gas Corp.

Randall M. Albert has been promoted to VP, Northern Appalachia Gas Operations, for CNX Gas Corp. He will manage the team that is drilling for gas in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Most recently, he held the position of general manager, CNX Gas Administration.

Aonghus O’Carroll has been appointed managing director of Knowledge Reservoir (UK) Ltd. O’Carroll will be responsible for the firm’s activities in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He began his oil and gas industry career as a computing geologist with BP in London.