Al Walker, president and CEO of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., has been elected chairman of the board effective May 14. He is succeeding Jim Hackett, who is retiring as executive chairman in June. Hackett, who was named executive chairman in May, had been CEO since 2003 and chairman since January 2006. Hackett also served as president from December 2003 to February 2010. Walker joined Anadarko in 2005 as senior vice president and CFO, and he also was formerly COO. In connection with Walker’s election, and “consistent with industry best practices,” the board has enhanced the duties of the lead director to ensure that Anadarko “maintains a corporate governance structure with appropriate independence.”
Elected
Articles from Elected
Colorado County Extends Drilling Permit Moratorium
Saying they needed more time to implement new oil and natural gas drilling regulations, elected officials in Boulder County, CO, have extended for four months a drilling permit moratorium to June 10.
People
The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) announced leadership of its committees and subcommittees for 2013 as elected by the MSC board of directors. Committee chairs announced by MSC are Range Resources’ Bill Burket (health and safety); Seneca Resources’ Mike Donovan (land affairs); Pennsylvania General Energy’s Craig Mayer (legal committee); MarkWest Energy Partners’ Dave Callahan (legislative committee); EOG Resources’ Gary Smith (membership committee); MarkWest’s Rob McHale (midstream/pipeline committee); Chesapeake Energy’s Will Freeman (natural gas use); XTO Energy’s Karen Matusic (public relations); Chief Oil & Gas’s Terry Bossert (regulatory); Chevron’s Alan Abel (research collaborative); Consol Energy’s Ryan Litwinovich (supply chain); Southwestern’s Jennifer Stewart (tax and fee); Range’s Joe Frantz (technical); Cabot Oil & Gas’s John Smelko (environmental stewardship); WPX Energy’s Charles McCandless (transportation); and Atlas Energy’s Viola Lazzer (workforce).
New York Localities Make Divergent Moves on Fracking
Elected officials in the Town of Chenango, NY, voted 3-2 to reject a moratorium on local ordinances that, if enacted, would have delayed permitting for oil and natural gas activities, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), within the Broome County town’s limits.
People
Marc Rowland, who was CFO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. before leaving to run onshore oilfield services company FTS International Inc., has been elected to the board of Warren Resources Inc. Warren, based in New York City, is an onshore domestic producer with a portfolio of assets in California, Wyoming and the Niobrara formation. Rowland had worked at Chesapeake for 18 years and served as CFO from 1993 to August 2010. He became president of FTS predecessor company Frac Tech in October 2010, three months before the company filed an initial public offering (see Daily GPI, Sept. 20, 2011). Rowland was named CEO in May 2011 and held that position until November.
Industry Brief
Penn Virginia Corp.’s 40% working interest partner in its Lavaca County, TX, Eagle Ford Shale acreage has elected to go “nonconsent” on the last 17 initial unit wells on the acreage. Penn Virginia said it will seek a partner to acquire the 40% working interest. Of 17 initial unit wells, seven have been drilled, two are being drilled and eight remain to be drilled, the company said. The current working interest partner will have no participatory rights in any subsequent wells drilled in the unit. As a result, Penn Virginia’s net Eagle Ford acreage in Lavaca County will increase from about 9,200 acres to about 13,400 acres upon the drilling of all of the initial unit wells. “We expect that each of the drilling units will support up to an additional four primary development wells after the initial well,” Penn Virginia said. “To date, our Lavaca County wells have generally met or exceeded expectations with average reserves of approximately 500,000 boe and attractive economics.” In October, Penn Virginia acquired about 4,100 net Eagle Ford acres in Gonzales and Lavaca counties for about $10 million. Other nonoperated working interest owners were expected to acquire some of the acreage (see Shale Daily, Oct. 4). One year ago, the company said it was exploring the Eagle Ford with an undisclosed “major oil and gas company” (see Shale Daily, Dec. 21, 2011).
Post-Storage Report Weakness Corrals Bulls
Physical natural gas prices overall traded down an average of about a dime Thursday as most traders elected to get deals done prior to the release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage data.
People
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.
Energy Debate Still in Hands of Obama, Divided Congress
By a narrow margin, voters last Tuesday elected President Obama to a second term in office, and kept Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and Democrats in the majority in the Senate. By maintaining the status quo in Washington, DC, this may ensure that the stalemate over energy policy will continue for another four years.
Energy Debate Still in Hands of Obama, Divided Congress
By a narrow margin, voters Tuesday elected President Obama to a second term in office, but with Congress still split — a majority Republican House and a majority Democratic Senate — the passage of significant legislation relating to the energy industry or anything else remains problematic.