Senior

Portland, OR-based Northwest Natural Gas Co. has appointed Mark S. Dodson as the company’s president and COO. Dodson, 56, had served as NW Natural’s senior vice president of public affairs and general counsel since 1997. In his new position, he will have responsibility for all day-to-day operations of the company and report directly to CEO Richard G. Reiten. Dodson was a partner in the law firm of Ater Wynne Hewitt Dodson & Skerrit in Portland from 1980 to 1997. He also has worked in the general counsel’s office of the U.S. Department of Transportation and was a special counsel to the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C.

PSEG Global announced Wednesday that it has added George P. Schaefer, 50, to the company as senior vice president of finance and treasurer. Schaefer will focus on corporate and structured financing, financial planning, and asset and risk management. In addition, PSEG Global said he will assume responsibility for the asset management of the company’s investment in Texas Independent Energy (TIE), a joint venture established to develop, construct, own, and operate electric generation facilities in Texas. Schaefer formerly worked as an executive for Enron Corp. where he led a team in the structuring, negotiation and closing of electric generation and energy-related transactions. PSEG Global develops, owns and operates electric generation and distribution facilities in the U.S. and select international markets.

Not all senior natural gas producers are staking out northern exploration positions in the belief that the Canadian Arctic’s turn has come for development. Talisman Energy Inc. — formerly an affiliate to one of Alaska’s top gas owners as BP Canada until the British parent company sold it on Canadian stock exchanges in the 1990s — is staying out of the Far North gas revival.

Not all senior natural gas producers are staking out northern exploration positions in the belief that the Canadian Arctic’s turn has come for development. Talisman Energy Inc. — formerly an affiliate to one of Alaska’s top gas owners as BP Canada until the British parent company sold it on Canadian stock exchanges in the 1990s — is staying out of the Far North gas revival.

Aquila Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of UtiliCorp United, on Tuesday named Dean Fuller as its senior vice president and general manager for its midstream services group based in Houston and San Antonio. The company also appointed two more members to the group: Steve Anderson to the position of commercial vice president and Mike Williams to the position of vice president of operations and engineering. Anderson, who has been in the business for more than 25 years, will be responsible for all of Aquila’s midstream commercial activity including supply and business development, while Williams, who has worked in the industry for more than 20 years, will be responsible for the company’s midstream asset operations and integrity, as well as value extraction

NiSource Inc. has chosen James K. Abcouwer as president and CEOof its newly-merged Columbia Natural Resources subsidiary. Abcouwerhad been NiSource’s senior vice president of Merchant Energy andpresident of its unregulated supply management company, TPC Corp.He will report to Patrick J. Mulchay, president of Merchant Energy.He succeeds W. Henry Harmon, who resigned Dec. 1. Abcouwer joinedNiSource in 1994 as vice president of Gas Supply for its NorthernIndiana Public Service Co. Prior to joining NIPSCO, Abcouwer hadalso been a director of Marketing and Gas Supply for Tenneco Gas.NiSource closed the acquisition of Columbia last November.

GRI and the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) named theirrecently merged organizations the Gas Technology Institute (GTI)last week and formed a senior management team led by John F.Riordan, president and CEO. The research groups announced theirmerger in April, saying it was mainly an effort to reduceoverlapping dues paid by their members and to combine the variousstrengths of the two entities.

Coho Energy is exiting bankruptcy protection with new seniormanagement and a new bank facility. Coho and five of its affiliatesfiled for Chapter 11 Aug. 23. At the time, Coho listed totalliabilities of $425 million. Under the reorganization plan, Coho’sthree largest institutional bondholders converted their debt into90% of the equity of the reorganized company. These bondholdersalso provided the majority of the $72 million of subordinatednotes, as provided under the reorganization plan. The bondholdersare Appaloosa Management, Oaktree Capital Management and PPMAmerica.

Dennis J. Seeley has been named president of National Fuel GasSupply Corp., the gas pipeline and storage arm of National FuelGas. Co. He previously served as senior vice president and directorof National Fuel Gas Distribution.