People in the industry

Vol. 234 No. 11

Chevron has announced that, effective Jan. 1, Jay Johnson becomes senior V.P., upstream, and Joe Geagea becomes senior V.P., technology, projects and services. The new roles will report to George Kirkland, vice chairman and executive V.P., upstream. Also effective Jan. 1, Pierre Breber becomes corporate V.P. and president, Chevron Gas and Midstream, reporting to John Watson (above), chairman of the board and CEO. Following Kirkland’s planned retirement in 2015, consistent with the company’s mandatory retirement policy, Johnson and Geagea will report to Watson. Johnson will lead an upstream organization that continues to have four regional operating companies: Europe, Eurasia and Middle East; Asia Pacific; Africa and Latin America; and North America.

Stewart & Stevenson has appointed John B. Simmons as the company’s CEO. He succeeds Stephen Fulgham, who assumes the position of senior advisor to the executive chairman of the company. Simmons has 30 years of experience in the oil service industry.

The UK’s Energy Industries Council (EIC) has appointed Claire Miller as its new CEO. Miller, who will be based in London, will be responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction to ensure continued, consistent promotion of members’ interests, and the EIC’s reputation as the leading trade association for the energy industry. The appointment follows completion of a six-month term as interim CEO.

 Effective Jan. 1, Rod Eichler (above), president and COO of Apache Corporation, will be transitioning to the newly-created roles of executive advisor to the chairman of Apache and CEO of Kitimat (LNG and upstream). John Christmann, regional V.P. for the Permian, will assume the role of executive V.P. and COO, North America. Tom Voytovich, executive V.P. for International Operations, is taking on the role of executive V.P. and COO, International. Mike Bahorich, executive V.P. and CTO, will take on additional responsibilities. Michael Bose, regional V.P. for Argentina, will transfer to Midland as the regional V.P. for the Permian. David Chi, manager of Argentina production and reservoir engineering, will be interim regional V.P. for Argentina. Rob Johnston will serve as executive V.P. and region V.P. for the Central Region. Roger Plank will continue in his role as president and chief corporate officer.

 Brian Young has been named director of Integrity Construction for Willbros Group. Based in Houston, Young will be responsible for working with Willbros Regional Construction and the Professional Services’ Integrity group. He has more than 15 years of experience in the pipeline construction industry.
Wireless Seismic has promoted Travis Ohnesorge to V.P. of customer services. In his new role, Ohnesorge will be responsible for extending client training programs and expanding the customer services division. Previously, he was director of customer support for Wireless Seismic.

Paul Saulnier, a senior well control specialist for Cudd Well Control, and pioneer of several capping techniques for well control operations, died Aug. 31 of sudden cardiac arrest, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 69. Born in Alexandria, Va., Saulnier and his family moved to Houston, when he was six years old. After serving in the Vietnam War from 1964–1968, as Airman First Class, Hydraulics Specialist, Saulnier began an impressive career in well control, with the legendary Paul “Red” Adair in 1970. Over his 40-year career, Saulnier acquired extensive domestic and international well control experience, with major projects around the world.

Ingrid Sølvberg joined the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s management team on Oct 1., as director for the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. Sølvberg was previously commercial manager for Centrica, and she has held a number of expert and management positions at Statoil, within technical facilities and strategic areas. Director for the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea is a management function within the NPD’s rotation scheme.
Brad Whitfield has been appointed V.P., USA, for Deep Casing Tools. Whitfield’s experience includes sales and business development in the completions domain. Mike Chomack has been appointed V.P., Canada. Chomack has been active in the Canadian oil industry for 30 years, working directly for both service companies and operators.

Occidental Petroleum announced that William R. Klesse (above, left), chairman of the board and CEO of Valero Energy, and Gene L. Batchelder (above, right), former senior V.P. and chief administrative officer at ConocoPhillips, have been elected to its board of directors. Klesse began his 40-plus-year career in the energy industry at Diamond Shamrock. Following the merger of Ultramar Corporation and Diamond Shamrock, the company was acquired by Valero. Klesse became executive V.P. and COO in 2003, CEO in 2006 and chairman of the board in 2007. Batchelder joined Phillips Petroleum in 1972. He was named president of Phillips Driscopipe in 1990 and finance manager of GPM Gas in 1994. He was Conoco’s senior V.P. of Services and CIO from 2002 to 2009, when he was promoted to senior V.P. and chief administrative officer. He retired from Conoco in 2012.

Camilla Palladino has been appointed head of media relations at Eni, replacing Erika Mandraffino, who is now senior V.P. of public affairs and communication at Saipem. Palladino leaves Eni’s investor relations office, which she has led since 2010. Responsibility for investor relations will be assumed by Francesco Gattei, who previously ran Eni’s scenario analysis and strategic long-term options office.

Det Norske Oljeselskap has appointed Karl Johnny Hersvik as CEO. Hersvik has been senior V.P. of Statoil’s research and development division since January 2011, with his new position effective next May 1. He succeeds Erik Haugane, who left Aug. 1. Chairman Sverre Skogen will continue in his role, with Oeyvind Bratsberg remaining as general manager, until Hersvik takes over as CEO.

2H Offshore, an Acteon company, has appointed Pedro Viana and Roberto Alvim as the technical managers of its Rio de Janeiro office. Viana and Alvim will manage the office with Pete Simpson, general manager.

Sabine Oil & Gas has promoted Todd Levesque to COO. Levesque had been serving as Sabine’s senior V.P. of engineering and development. Prior to joining Sabine, in 2007, he held senior-level management positions with Devon/Ocean Energy, Burlington Resources and Amerada Hess.

 Athlon Energy announced that its board has appointed Mark A. Stevens to serve as a director. Stevens will serve as an independent director under the board’s appointment for an initial term that expires at the 2016 annual meeting of stockholders. Stevens is a tax consultant for Morningstar Partners. He previously served as senior V.P., Taxation, at XTO Energy for 22 years.