September 2017, Vol. 244, No. 9

Company & Association News

Business: Association News, Personnel Changes, Mergers & Acquisitions

Hobart Institute of Welding Technology in Troy, OH, highlighted its latest addition and renovation, including a new welding learning facility featuring four state-of-the art classrooms that seat up to 120 students and a dedicated non-destructive laboratory and classroom for hands-on liquid penetrant and magnetic particle inspection and training. There is a large welder performance qualification laboratory for destructive testing and 24 multi-process welding booths. The renovation includes 13 new or updated classrooms.

CenterPoint 

John Sousa recently joined CenterPoint Energy as vice president of Corporate Communications and Community Relations where he will lead internal communications, external media relations, crisis management and community relations. Sousa has over  25 years of similar experience with ConocoPhillips, El Paso Corp., Fleishman-Hillard and Dynegy Inc.

DLA Piper

Gislar Donnenberg has joined DLA Piper’s corporate practice as a partner in Houston where he will focus on capital markets matters in the energy sector. He has over 20 years of experience representing public and private companies engaged in the exploration, production and distribution of natural gas, crude oil and refined petroleum products.

Spencer Ogden

Spencer Ogden, a global energy, engineering and infrastructure recruitment agency, is tripling the size of its Houston office and relocating to Greenstreet at 1201 Fannin St. The company, whose global headquarters is in London, said it has seen tremendous growth in the U.S. market since the Houston office opened in 2011.

American Innovations

Erik Potter has been appointed vice president of professional services by American Innovations, a seller of compliance solutions to the oil and gas industry. He is responsible for the strategic direction and operational leadership of the AI integrity management, GIS and pipeline compliance teams.

CECO 

Heath Cleaver was named chief financial officer by CECO Engineering Corporation (CECO) & CECO Pipeline Services. He is a senior accounting and finance executive with over 20 years of experience focused across the energy spectrum.

Stress Engineering Services

Brian Weaver was named sales manager by Stress Engineering Services, Inc. He will be based in Houston and coordinate sales for the upstream, midstream, materials, testing and measurement and control practices for SES. Weaver held positions as project, sales and operations managers at FMC Technologies in Houston. He joins SES from GE Oil & Gas.

Sidley Austin

Brian Minyard has joined law firm Sidley Austin LLP as a partner in the Houston office where he will focus on global finance.

Babst Calland

Johanna H. Jochum joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Energy and Natural Resources, Environmental and Transportation Safety groups and Pipeline and HazMat Safety practice.

Letton Hall Group

Peter Edlund has joined Letton Hall Group, an oil and gas measurement technology firm, in an expansion of its midstream services. Edlund, an industry veteran from the service and producer sides who headed BP’s midstream and marketing for the Gulf of Mexico, will lead the development.

Coastal Flow

The Coastal Flow Measurement family of companies learned that its flow laboratory has achieved ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation, the primary ISO standard for testing and calibration laboratories, under the latest standard jointly published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). This standard specifies the general requirements to carry out tests and calibrations, including sampling, performed using standard, non-standard and laboratory-developed methods.

Apache

Rene R. Royce was appointed to Apache Corp.’s board of directors. Joyce, 69, serves as a director of midstream company Targa Resources where he was executive chairman of the board  between 2012-14 and was CEO between 2005-11. He previously served as president of onshore pipeline operations of Coral Energy, a subsidiary of Shell Oil Co.; and as president of energy services of Coral Energy Holding, LP, also a subsidiary of Shell and the gas and power marketing joint venture between Shell and Tejas Gas Corp., a natural gas pipeline company.

Offshore Technical Compliance

David McCubbin was named chief operating officer and Dan Phelps as director – compliance inspection services, by Offshore Technical Compliance. McCubbin has held numerous engineering and business analysis roles with Exxon and W&T Offshore. In 2003, McCubbin formed Explore Enterprises of America and as president led a joint venture with Woodside Energy. He continues as president of Explore Enterprises, managing the company’s producing GoM assets, with the additional role as COO for OTC. Phelps has been with OTC since 2013 as a senior inspector and senior pressure testing specialist and was instrumental in developing and delivering OTC’s IADC accredited drilling compliance training course.

KorTerra

Sarah Madson was named head of marketing at KorTerra, Inc., a utility damage prevention software company in Chanhassen, MN.

Atkins’ Energy Americas

Chris Sherertz is the new director of business development of Atkins’ Energy Americas oil and gas business. Located in Houston, Atkins offers design, engineering and project management consultant services. His experience has focused on semi-submersibles, FPSOs, SPARs, TLPs and FLNG facilities. He previously worked at KBR where he was responsible for upstream sales in the Americas and West Africa.

Takeuchi-US

Takeuchi-US has added Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc. to its dealer network, serving pipeline, construction and other customers in Oklahoma and Texas. Kirby-Smith now has 10 locations in the U.S.

Mott MacDonald

Jennifer Kohlsaat was appointed to head Mott MacDonald’s environmental practice in North America. She is based in Mott MacDonald’s North American headquarters in Iselin, NJ, and provides impact assessment and permitting services for FERC projects.

AG&P (Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Company), which specializes in modular infrastructure for LNG receiving terminals and their supply chains, launched AG&P Engineering Inc. in Houston, combining a subsidiary, Gas Entec of South Korea, a leader in marine engineering, and its construction and engineering group in the Philippines. Gas industry veteran Alfred Moujaes will head of AG&P Engineering. He is joined by former Black & Veatch Corp. colleagues Nancy Ballout as vice president Process Operations, David Franklin as vice president Engineering, Julio Rios as vice president Technology, Charles Rice as principal piping engineer, Ali Aga as project manager for Engineering Procurement and Construction and Linna Wang as principle process engineer along with several other senior engineers and project managers who will be based in the Philippines and India.

Interior Department

Susan Combs was nominated by President Trump to serve as the Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget. A rancher from Big Bend, TX, Combs previously served in two statewide offices as the state’s first female agriculture commissioner and then as the Texas comptroller of public accounts/treasurer and chief financial officer. She will now serve as the Interior Department’s chief financial officer, chief acquisition officer and chief performance officer.

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline

Katerina Papalexandri was appointed by Trans-Adriatic Pipeline as its new Greece Country Manager, replacing Rikard Scoufias. She has 20 years of experience in the energy industry with expertise in gas markets and projects, commercial negotiations and stakeholder management. She joins TAP from BP in London, where she held numerous senior positions since she joining the company.

ROSEN

ROSEN is now actively engaged in the work of the EPRG in what the company says reflects its commitment to the safe operation of gas transmission pipelines. ROSEN has contributed experienced technical representatives to the Design, Corrosion and Materials committees of EPRG to support the work of those teams.

Chesapeake Utilities

Delaware-based Chesapeake Utilities Corp. said its wholly owned subsidiary, Peninsula Energy Services Company (PESCO), has acquired the assets of ARM Energy Management (AEM), a natural gas marketing company servicing commercial and industrial customers in western Pennsylvania. PESCO is the company’s non-regulated energy marketing business servicing commercial and industrial customers in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

“This acquisition will allow us to extend our regional footprint and deepen our commercial relationships with natural gas producers and end-users as we pursue new growth opportunities that generate value for our customers, employees, investors and the communities we serve,” Michael P. McMasters, president and CEO of Chesapeake Utilities, said.

The acquired assets will expand PESCO’s retail demand in a market where it has existing pipeline capacity and wholesale liquidity. The acquisition will generate opportunities for PESCO to execute its strategy of aggregating supply and providing associated services, similar to how it has worked with producers served by its Aspire Energy subsidiary throughout the Appalachian region.