Portland, OR-based Northwest Natural Gas Co. has appointed Mark S. Dodson as the company’s president and COO. Dodson, 56, had served as NW Natural’s senior vice president of public affairs and general counsel since 1997. In his new position, he will have responsibility for all day-to-day operations of the company and report directly to CEO Richard G. Reiten. Dodson was a partner in the law firm of Ater Wynne Hewitt Dodson & Skerrit in Portland from 1980 to 1997. He also has worked in the general counsel’s office of the U.S. Department of Transportation and was a special counsel to the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C.

At its annual general meeting Thursday in Calgary, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) appointed Doug Graham, president of ATCO Pipelines, as the new chairman for the association for 2001-2002. He succeeds Ron Clark, president and CEO of TransGas Limited. “The myriad issues the pipeline industry faces and the initiatives to deal with them, are exciting,” said Graham. “I look forward to working with my new board of directors and the committees and staff at CEPA to advance the cause of this industry on all fronts.” CEPA represents the interests of nine of Canada’s major crude oil and natural gas transmission pipeline companies. Its members operate 100,000 kilometres of pipelines and transport more than 95% of the hydrocarbons produced in Canada.

Midland, TX-based Parallel Petroleum Corp. Thursday announced that its affiliate, First Permian, LLC, has hired Steven H. Pruett as its president and CEO. Pruett has twenty years of industry experience, most recently as vice president and oil and gas investment portfolio manager for Enron North America in Houston. First Permian LLC is a privately held oil and gas company formed in June 1999 to acquire the Permian Basin oil and gas assets of Fina Oil and Chemical Co. Parallel was one of the founders and owns a 30.675 percent equity interest in First Permian. Parallel Petroleum is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration for, and the acquisition, development and production of oil and gas using 3-D seismic technology.

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