People in the Industry

Weatherford International has appointed Karl Blanchard as executive V.P. and COO. In his new role, Blanchard will manage all region and product line operations, including quality, health, safety and environment, sales, engineering, R&D and supply chain. He brings more than 35 years of industry experience to his new position. Most recently, he was COO at Seventy Seven Energy. Prior to that, he held a number of leadership roles at Halliburton, including V.P. of cementing, V.P. of production enhancement, and V.P. of testing and subsea.

GEODynamics (UK) Limited has appointed Raymond Ross as technical CGI director. In his new role, he reportedly will produce computer-generated graphics to illustrate the inner workings of the company’s technology and service offerings as they are applied in downhole environments. Ross brings more than 25 years of industry experience to his new position. He has served in various positions with companies, including Paradigm Group, Weatherford, Petrowell, Well Dynamics and Halliburton.

Kelvin Tang, COO and president of KrisEnergy’s Cambodian operations, has been appointed as the new CEO. The appointment follows the resignation of Interim CEO Jeffrey S. MacDonald. Tang brings nearly 12 years of industry experience to his new position. Previously, he had served as general counsel and secretary at Pearl Energy.

Brett Lestrange has been appointed UK regional director at Ashtead Technology. Based in Aberdeen, Scotland, Lestrange will oversee the company’s UK sales and technical team. He brings more than 25 years of subsea experience to his new role. Most recently, Lestrange served as CEO of HCS Control Systems. Prior to that, he was a founding partner at Frontrow Energy Partners. He also served in a variety of senior and technical roles at Expro Group.

Tim Bushell and Martin Gudgeon have been named independent non-executive directors at Genel Energy. Bushell, a geologist with more than 35 years of industry experience, is also a
board member at Petro Matad, Rockhopper Exploration and Point Resources. He previously served as CEO of Falkland Oil & Gas, managing director at Paladin Resources, and was co-founder of Core Energy. Gudgeon is a partner at PJT Partners. He had previously served as senior managing director at Blackstone, and was CEO of Close Brothers Corporate Finance.

Arthur James Johnson has been promoted to CEO at Hunting plc. He succeeds Dennis Proctor, who has retired as CEO and director. An employee since 1992, Johnson has held a number of senior management positions within the group. Most recently, he served as COO, where he managed global operations in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North America. 

Leslie S. Keating has been appointed to Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s board of directors. As a board member, she will serve as a member of the audit committee and the compensation committee. Keating’s appointment was effective on Sept. 11, and she will stand for re-election at the company’s 2018 annual meeting of shareholders. Presently, Keating is executive V.P. of supply chain strategy and transformation at Advance Auto Parts. She also serves on the board of directors for River Logic, a privately held technology firm.

ADES International Holding Ltd. has appointed Ahmed El-Khatib as CFO. Over the course of his 20-year career, El-Khatib has worked throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Since 1996, he has served in a number of senior roles at BP. Most recently, he was BP’s business development director for the Middle East, where he managed commercial negotiations for the company’s entry into Kuwait.

Corrosion monitoring company Cosasco has promoted Anupam Sangal from operations manager to V.P. of operations. Based in California, he also will serve as a board member. In his new role, Sangal will work to build the company’s manufacturing partnerships in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China and India, while also ensuring international trade compliance. Additionally, he will rationalize product and supply chains, and oversee the development of personnel.

Matt Jenkins has joined Well-Safe Solutions as director of well abandonment. In his new role, he will manage the company’s technical team to design safe and efficient well P&A operations. Jenkins joins the company from ConocoPhillips, where he oversaw its UK P&A engineering and strategy. He reportedly was an integral part of its southern North Sea decommissioning project. Overall, Jenkins brings 15 years of experience in North Sea drilling, completions, intervention and abandonment, to his new role at Well-Safe.

UTEC, an Acteon company, has announced several key appointments. Cory Goodyear, Mick Elmslie and Jonathan Watt have been appointed as business unit directors across the company’s business units in Europe, Africa and the Americas. These appointments coincide with the company headquarters’ move from Houston to Aberdeen.

Pryme Group has appointed two key managers to its leadership team. Steve Batsford and Geoff Harmer will support company growth, as well as promote further development of cost-effective solutions within the firm. Batsford joins the firm from Nasmyth Group, a precision engineering specialist, where he was sales and business development manager. Harmer reportedly has managed and developed a number of specialist welding and fabrication divisions over the course of his career. He brings extensive knowledge of fabrication and machining to his new position.

EnQuest has named John Winterman as a non-executive director of the company’s board. Accordingly, he will serve as a member of the audit, risk and remuneration committees. Winterman brings extensive knowledge of global exploration, business development and asset management to his new role. He also serves as a non-executive director for CC Energy.

Well-Safe Solutions has named Graeme Murray as legal and commercial director. Murray brings more than 27 years of industry experience to his new role. He joins the company from Dolphin Drilling, where he served as managing director. Additionally, he previously served as general counsel, secretary and V.P. for commercial and procurement at Subsea 7. In addition to Murray’s appointment, the company has named Glenn Wilson as CTO. Wilson joins the company from Repsol Sinopec, where he was decommissioning program manager. Prior to that, he served as decommissioning and UK operations manager for Hess Limited. Overall, Wilson brings more than 30 years of industry experience to his new position.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has hired Torgeir Stordal as exploration director. He succeeds Sissel Eriksen, who will leave the directorate’s management team after 10 years as exploration director. Since 1989, Stordal has held a number of positions with Shell, including geophysicist and geologist. More recently, however, he was exploration manager at Norske Shell.