As part of a larger move to realign its corporate structure and top management team, Statoil has appointed its CFO, Torgrim Reitan, to the position of executive V.P. for Development & Production USA. Reitan replaces Bill Maloney, who decided not to extend his contract with Statoil. Taking over the CFO position is Jakob Hegge, who previously was senior V.P. for Operations North in Development & Production Norway.
Amber Rudd has been appointed the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, effective May 11, by re-elected Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. Previously, from July 2014 to May 2015, she was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Rudd was first elected as a Conservative MP for the Hastings & Rye constituency in May 2010.
British independent IGas Energy Plc, a producer of onshore hydrocarbons in the UK, has promoted Stephen Bowler from CFO to CEO. Bowler succeeds Andrew Austin, who had been CEO and was a co-founder of the company. Austin also has stepped down from the firm’s board of directors.
Based in Calgary, Cardinal Energy Ltd. has promoted Shane Peet from COO to president, effective May 11. Peet has played a key role in assisting the acquisition and implementation of Cardinal’s existing assets, including the Wainwright and Bantry properties.
Anadarko Petroleum has promoted Darrell E. Hollek to executive V.P., U.S. Onshore Exploration and Production, replacing Charles A. Meloy, who retired early this month. Most recently, Hollek served the company as senior V.P., Deepwater Americas Operations. He holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University, and is a member of API and SPE. He also serves on the boards of The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), The Offshore Energy Center, and the CEO Council for the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.
As part of a restructuring that separates Saudi Aramco from the country’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabian King Salman has appointed Khaled Al-Falih as chairman of the company. In addition, Saudi Aramco senior V.P. Amin Al-Nasser was named acting president and CEO. Having joined the company in 1982, Al-Nasser has been serving as senior V.P. for upstream operations since 2008.
Pakistan’s Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd. has named Zahid Mir as the company’s acting managing director, replacing Muhammad Rafi, who retired. Previously, he had been the firm’s COO.
Brian Carney has been appointed to the board of directors of Sanchez Energy Corporation. He will serve on three committees: Audit, Nominating and Corporate Governance, and Compensation.
FMC Technologies, Inc., has promoted Douglas J. Pferdehirt to president of the company. He takes over this responsibility from John T. Gremp, who remains as chairman and CEO. Previously, Pferdehirt served as executive V.P. and COO, and will retain the latter title. Before joining FMC Technologies in 2012, he had a 26-year career with Schlumberger Limited, including a number of leadership positions.
Canadian firm TAG Oil Ltd. has named veteran oil and gas executive Frank Jacobs to the post of COO. With a career spanning more than 35 years, Jacobs most recently was based in Kuala Lumpur, serving as project director for the Ophir oil field development offshore Malaysia.
Oil & Gas UK, the representative organization for the UK offshore oil and gas industry, has named existing board member Neil McCulloch (president, North Sea, at Enquest Plc) as its vice chairman for the operator community. The group also named Terry Savage (corporate relationship director, Global Energy Group) as its vice chairman for the contractor community. In addition, the organization appointed eight new members to its board.
Effective May 8, 2015, Biswajit Roy has become director of business development and human resources at Oil India, as per terms issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. He has more than 32 years of experience.
NOIA has elected Cindy B. Taylor chairman for the 2015–2016 term. Since 2007, Taylor served as president and CEO of Oil States International, Inc. She has been with the company since 2000, in a number of senior positions. Before that, she worked in financial/investment roles at L.E. Simmons & Associates, Cliffs Drilling Company and Ernst & Young, LLP. She holds a BBA degree from Texas A&M University. Also elected as NOIA vice chairman is Kevin McEvoy, who is CEO at Oceaneering International, Inc. In addition, 23 board members were elected.
Among several executive appointments made by Calgary-based Gran Tierra Energy Inc., Lawrence West has been named V.P., Exploration. West began his career with Imperial Oil and later worked at Alberta Energy Company, where he was on the team that merged with Conwest. In addition, Alan Johnson was named V.P., Asset Management. Johnson is a professional engineer with over 21 years of experience that includes varied technical, managerial and executive roles. Most recently, he was head of asset management for Glencore (E&P) Canada and prior thereto, director of asset management at Caracal Energy, responsible for all development activities in Chad, Africa.
Calgary independent Mapan Energy Ltd. has appointed Mike Dobberthien to V.P., Exploration. He has more than 24 years of experience and is described as “a key addition to the Mapan team.”
At its annual meeting, the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association elected Gary Halverson as chairman. Halverson is president, Drilling & Productions Systems, and senior V.P. at Cameron International. A graduate of Odessa College, he joined Cameron in 1978 and has held numerous management positions, both in the U.S. and overseas. In addition, Johan Pfeiffer, V.P., Surface Technologies at FMC Technologies, was elected PESA’s vice chairman, and Saeid Rahimian, president and CEO of Gardner Denver’s Energy Group, was elected first V.P.
2H Offshore, an Acteon company, is adding strength to its flexible marine riser engineering capabilities by growing its teams in Aberdeen and Kuala Lumpur. Gilles Gardner has been added to the firm as a technical manager, to support 2H’s growing offerings from the Aberdeen office. In addition, Hanh Ha has been transferred from the firm’s London office to the Kuala Lumpur facility, where he will support the local management team in the growth of 2H’s capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Seatronics Ltd, an Acteon company, has promoted Phil Middleton from deputy managing director to group managing director. He has been with the firm for 12 years, and will be responsible for managing and developing Seatronics’ global business, with a particular focus on long-term growth, strategy and compliance.
