Effective

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.

J. Larry Nichols is retiring as an employee of Devon Energy Corp. effective Dec. 31. He plans to continue to serve as executive chairman and as a director. Nichols’ retirement follows a succession plan announced in June 2010, when Devon President John Richels was promoted to CEO, a post that Nichols had held since 1980. Nichols and his father, John Nichols, co-founded Devon in 1971; the company went public in 1988. Among the company milestones under J. Larry Nichols’ leadership, Devon in 2002 acquired Mitchell Energy & Development Corp., giving it the top position in what was then the emerging Barnett Shale, as well as access to the drilling technology pioneered by George Mitchell, which successfully combined horizontal drilling techniques with hydraulic fracturing well stimulation (see Daily GPI, Jan. 25, 2002; Aug. 15, 2001).

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.

New Mexico state authorities on Thursday reopened a case on proposed industry-prompted modifications to the state’s “pit rule” for handling natural gas and oil drilling and production waste.

Halcon Resources Corp. on Monday said it is acquiring a shelf of oil-weighted producing and undeveloped properties in the Williston Basin in a cash-and-equity transaction with Petro-Hunt LLC worth $1.45 billion.

Even with a multi-billion-dollar natural gas gathering and processing infrastructure buildout ongoing, North Dakota is not likely to greatly reduce the volumes of gas being flared as an offshoot of its accelerated oil boom, according to an analysis released Thursday by RBN Energy LLC.

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline late Wednesday declared a critical day 1 operational flow order (OFO) effective 9 a.m. Thursday due to a force majeure event at its Compressor Station 249 in Carlisle, NY.

Effective immediately, a competitive market for compressed natural gas (CNG) — chiefly as a new rival against oil products — is open for business across most of Nova Scotia. And it’s Eastern Canada’s chief oil refiner, Irving Oil, that will be delivering the trucked gas to coastal fish processors, hospitals, universities and other large commercial users as early as next year.