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Shares of EOG Resources Inc. rose sharply on Tuesday after the company reported a nearly 53% increase in net income for the first quarter of 2013, gains due in large part to hefty growth in crude oil production from the Eagle Ford Shale.

Wyoming has hired a new oil/natural gas supervisor, Grant Black, a 30-year geology veteran who will assume his new position May 1. The state has been without a permanent supervisor at the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) since long-time incumbent Tom Doll resigned last year after a run-in with Gov. Matt Mead (see Shale Daily, June 18, 2012). Department veteran Bob King has filled in on an interim basis. Once the oil/gas supervisor in Arkansas (1999-2004), Black holds geology degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.

Baker Hughes Inc. Chairman Chad Deaton said he is retiring effective April 25. President and CEO Martin Craighead is to assume the chairman’s role in addition to his current responsibilities, the board announced. Deaton joined the oilfield services company in 2004 and served as chair and CEO until January 2012, when he became executive chairman (see Daily GPI, Jan. 25, 2012). Craighead, who began working at Baker in 1986, was appointed COO in 2009 and president in 2010. “I am confident that with Martin, Baker Hughes has the optimal leadership for the future,” Deaton said. The Houston-based company works in 80 countries and has more than 58,000 employees worldwide.

Whether one loves or hates hydrocarbon fuels, “they are here to stay,” an energy lecturer and author told a Houston audience. “They provide nine out of 10 units of energy, nine out of 10 units of power…That will remain the case for decades to come. Energy transitions happen over decades or centuries, not over years.” The transition under way now is to natural gas, particularly that from shale plays, he said.

Williams Partners LP plans to assume the role of operator of the Overland Pass Pipeline after completing a bigger buy-in with joint venture (JV) partner ONEOK Partners LP. ONEOK Partners received about $424 million in the transaction, which was announced in July (see NGI, July 26). The Overland Pass Pipeline JV was established by the partners in May 2006, with Williams Partners then owning 1% interest. As long as Williams Partners owns at least 50% of the natural gas liquids pipe, it has the option to become the operator with 30 days notice.

Williams Partners LP on Thursday said it now owns a half-stake in the Overland Pass Pipeline Co. LLC and plans to assume the role of operator after completing the bigger buy-in with joint venture (JV) partner ONEOK Partners LP.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) named Meg Collins of the Colorado Livestock Association (CLA) president of the energy industry trade group. Collins will assume her new role with COGA effective Aug. 24. She has been director of environmental affairs at the CLA, where she worked with livestock producers to help craft environmental regulations and legislation affecting the industry. Collins will replace COGA’s current leader, Executive Vice President Greg Schnacke, who will be leaving COGA for a position with Americans for American Energy, a domestic energy advocacy group; and Policy Communications Inc. a Golden, CO-based public affairs and lobbying firm for energy and mining interests. Schnacke has been with COGA for 13 years. Prior to his work with COGA, Schnacke served as the legislative director and deputy administrative assistant for former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) for nine years.

El Paso Corp. said it has paid PPM Energy and PPM Energy Canada Ltd $188 million to assume a 145,750 MMcf/d firm capacity obligation on Alliance Pipeline. El Paso said it will take a one-time charge in that amount in the fourth quarter.

FERC has granted Northwest Pipeline Corp. and Duke Energy Trading Marketing LLC’s (DETM) requests for waivers of the pipeline’s tariff that would allow DETM to carry out the permanent transfer of its transportation capacity in its Northwestern Regional Book to an unidentified prearranged replacement shipper.