FERC has tapped 14-year staffer Andrew Kohout to run the Commission’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) division, which was created last year.

Kohout, now LNG Branch 1 chief, would be the first director of its Division of LNG Facility Reviews and Inspections (DLNG).

In a tweet, Kohout on Monday said he was honored to be named the first division director and to enter “Senior Executive Service. It has been a pleasure seeing the dramatic change & growth in #LNG @ the BEST place to work #FERC. Looking forward to continuously improving the program.”

Kohout has worked at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission since 2006, when he was hired as a safety and reliability engineer. Five years ago he became chief of FERC’s LNG Branch 1. He holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland.

FERC created the DLNG last July to focus on LNG, with staff to be based in Houston and in Washington, DC. The division is to be staffed with 20 current employees who work on LNG projects in the DC headquarters, as well as eight new full-time employees based in a Houston regional office, FERC said at the time.

The staff’s work is “critical to completing engineering reviews, coordinating safety reviews with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration at the Department of Transportation, and preparing engineering analyses for inclusion in environmental documents,” FERC said.