Chairman

DCP Midstream LLC and DCP Midstream Partners LP made several management and board changes effective Jan. 1. Tom O’Connor will retire as CEO of DCP Midstream but will remain chairman of the board for both DCP Midstream and DCP Midstream GP LLC, the general partner of DCP Midstream Partners, “until an appointed time in 2013.” Wouter van Kempen, formerly COO and president of DCP Midstream, will become CEO and president of DCP Midstream and CEO of the general partner. William Waldheim, president of the general partner, will join the general partner’s board. And, as had previously been announced, Mark Borer retired as CEO of the general partner on Dec. 31.

DCP Midstream LLC and DCP Midstream Partners LP made several management and board changes effective Jan. 1. Tom O’Connor will retire as CEO of DCP Midstream but will remain chairman of the board for both DCP Midstream and DCP Midstream GP LLC, the general partner of DCP Midstream Partners, “until an appointed time in 2013.” Wouter van Kempen, formerly COO and president of DCP Midstream, will become CEO and president of DCP Midstream and CEO of the general partner. William Waldheim, president of the general partner, will join the general partner’s board. And, as had previously been announced, Mark Borer retired as CEO of the general partner on Dec. 31.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, and several state attorneys general Monday signed a letter asking President Obama to pull the final rule on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and Indian lands at the federal level.

Lamar McKay, who has served as chairman and president of BP plc subsidiary BP America since 2009, will take over as CEO of the Upstream business unit effective Jan. 1. In his new role McKay, who has worked for BP for 32 years, would lead the operator’s combined upstream businesses, which include the exploration, development and production divisions, together with the strategy and integration team. The upstream divisions were created in 2010 following the Macondo deepwater spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which led to a major reorganization designed to improve risk management and global standards. McKay would report to Group CEO Bob Dudley. McKay’s successor has not been announced.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, believes the nation should take a careful approach to exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), and endorses sharing federal revenues to develop offshore oil and natural gas with coastal states.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, believes the nation should take a careful approach to exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), and endorses the sharing of federal revenues from the development of offshore oil and natural gas with coastal states.

San Diego-based Sempra Energy CEO Debra Reed, 56, has been elected chairman of the energy holding company to replace Donald Felsinger, 65, who retires at the end November after 40 years. Reed was named CEO last year and has worked for Sempra companies for the past 34 years (see Daily GPI, June 29, 2011). She previously worked for Sempra’s Southern California Gas Co. utility.

John Pinkerton, executive chairman of Range Resources Corp., said his company’s decision in 2010 to be the first to voluntarily disclose the contents of the chemicals it uses in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) was the right call, and one that now has received nearly unanimous industry support.

The United States now has an “incredible” opportunity to be energy self-sufficient, John Pinkerton, executive chairman of Range Resources Corp., told an industry audience last week, urging the development of a diverse energy policy using all of the nation’s resources.