Hiring

The Bakken Shale’s oil and gas sector is looking for job applicants, according to the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC), particularly in the oilfield services sector. Fortis Energy Services had scheduled networking this week in Williston, Dickinson and Minot (Friday). E&M Services said it was looking for new employees through its multiple offices in Watford City, Williston, Sidney, and Arnega. Purity Oilfield Services is looking for drivers, well testers mechanics, while MBI Energy Services is looking for truck drivers, rig hands and wireline operators.

Unconventional natural gas activity supported more than one million jobs in 2010, a number that is likely to grow to nearly 1.5 million by 2015. The industry is expected to generate significant job creation, economic growth and tax revenues nationwide — in producing and non-producing states alike — according to a new report from IHS Global Insight.

California regulators on Thursday waived normal hiring processes to form a review panel to address concerns about Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) ability to meet peak demand in the event of a severe cold snap in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has been awarded $816,274 of funding under the federal stimulus package to be applied to employee hiring and training. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding is designated to help the state regulatory commission handle its increased workload caused by various renewable energy, efficiency, smart grid technology, transmission and demand response issues surfacing to address global climate change. Funds will be used to train existing personnel and hire two new staff positions assigned exclusively to the alternative energy sector, said PUC Executive Director Crystal Jackson. “We have seen a substantial increase in activity in these areas, and we expect even more in the coming years,” Jackson said. The state regulatory panel is facing a number of major renewable energy, efficiency and transmission cases in the next two years, and the new positions and training funds will be applied to its 2011-2013 fiscal year budgets.

The exploration and production (E&P) arm of National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) is hiring a third-party consultant to analyze the reserve potential of its Appalachian Basin holdings, executives said last week. Seneca Resources Corp.’s current proved reserves total about 83 Bcfe, or 13% of its total consolidated reserves, but the E&P wants to test the potential of its 935,000 net acre play after partnering with EOG Resources Inc. on some horizontal drilling projects.

In an unexpected twist, the SEC on Friday asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to reject Enron Corp.’s hiring of Stephen F. Cooper as CEO, calling the terms of his million dollar contract and bonus guarantee inappropriate. Enron wants court approval to hire the bankruptcy specialist as an independent contractor, with the title of interim CEO and chief restructuring officer, at an annual salary of $1.32 million a year and a bonus of at least $5 million once the restructuring is completed.