Petroleum

Whiting Petroleum Corp.has named Brad Holly, 46, president and CEO effective Nov. 1. Holly until earlier in October was Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s executive vice president, U.S. onshore exploration and production. The appointment coincides with the planned retirement of James J. Volker, 70, who joined Whiting in 1983 and has been president/CEO since 2002. Since taking the helm Volker has established Denver-based Whiting as a top operator in the Bakken Shale and Niobrara formations; the company produced more than 112,000 boe/din 2Q2017. Volker will assume the role of executive chairman until the end of the year and then become non-executive chairman until the 2018 annual meetings, at which time Holly is to become chairman. Holly began his career in 1994 with Amoco and joined Anadarko in 1997 as a reservoir engineer. He holds a bachelor of science in petroleum engineering from Texas Tech University and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

The United States in 2016 remained the world’s top natural gas and petroleum hydrocarbon producer for the fifth year in a row, even with declines relative to2015 levels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.

BHP Billiton Ltd. concedes that its investment in U.S. shale plays was poorly timed but wants to make a go of it with cost-cutting and increased efficiencies. Meanwhile, an activist investor targeting the Australian mining conglomerate for reform would still like to see the U.S. petroleum business jettisoned.

U.S. natural gas production reached a record high in 2015 for the fifth consecutive year, and U.S. consumption levels set a new record for the sixth consecutive year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Friday.

U.S. natural gas production reached a record high in 2015 for the fifth consecutive year, and U.S. consumption levels set a new record for the sixth consecutive year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Friday.

Pivotal LNG has signed a multi-year contract to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Carib Energy (USA), a unit of Crowley Maritime Corp. LNG would be transported by Crowley and delivered to Molinos de Puerto Rico, the Caribbean arm of Ardent Mills LLC, which plans to use the gas as a fuel source in its Puerto Rico operations. Pivotal plans to load LNG onto Crowley’s containers, which would be transported via truck to Crowley-owned vessels in Jacksonville, FL, and Crowley’s Puerto Rico-based logistics team then would deliver the LNG to Molinos in Puerto Rico (see Daily GPI,May 9;Aug. 19, 2014). Pivotal and Southern Company Gas (formerly AGL Resources Inc.) operate a network of LNG production facilities with the capacity to produce 540,000 gallons/day and the ability to store more than 94 million gallons. Pivotal, through its JAX LNG partnership, also is developing an LNG production facility in Jacksonville, with facility construction expected to begin soon (see Daily GPI,Jan. 6, 2015).

After several months of negotiations with nearly three-quarters of its creditors, Triangle USA Petroleum Corp. (TUSA) and two of its affiliates voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Wednesday.

The world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons last year was, once again, the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) has indefinitely suspended construction of its $1 billion Palmetto Pipeline after the Georgia General Assembly passed a moratorium on eminent domain, but the legislation is unlikely to impact natural gas projects in the state.