On the Move (Week of Aug. 2, 2021)

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Editor's note: This "On the Move" section appears in the new E&P newsletter. This weekly section highlights new hires, appointments, retirements and promotions as well as company news such as new office locations and major M&A deals. Submit your company news to Ariana Hurtado at ahurtado@hartenergy.com. Subscribe to the E&P newsletter here.

People

ProPetro has appointed Sam Sledge CEO. Sledge was named president in April and will also join the company's board of directors. Read more here.

Chevron Corp. has named Jeff Gustavson president of Chevron New Energies. He is succeeded in his position as vice president of Chevron North America Exploration & Production Co. by Ryder Booth. In addition, Eimear Bonner was named vice president, and he will also continue serving as president of Chevron Technical Center and CTO. Joseph C. Geagea, executive vice president of technology, projects and services, will retire from the company. Geagea will continue as an executive vice president and serve as senior adviser to chairman and CEO Michael Wirth until March 1, 2022.

Neccus has appointed Ronnie Quinn CEO.

Energy Quest has named Emeakpo Ojonah business development manager.

DroneBase has appointed Joel LeBlanc general manager wind energy.

Vermilion Energy has appointed Manjit Sharma and Judy Steele to the board of directors.

Companies

Nalco Water, Ecolab’s water and process management business, has announced a new strategic business unit, Global Chemical, that will focus on end-to-end, holistic approaches to water, carbon and energy challenges for a variety of chemical segments. 

Chevron Corp. officially joined the energy transition movement with the launch of Chevron New Energies, led by newly appointed Jeff Gustavson. The unit will focus on building low-carbon business prospects that have the potential to scale after shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of a proposal to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Read more here.

Oil Search will recommend an improved buyout offer from Santos Ltd. In a deal that would create a top-20 global oil and gas company. The merged group would own oil and gas assets in Australia, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Alaska, with a 42.5% stake in the PNG LNG project, overtaking the 33.2% stake owned by Exxon Mobil Corp., operator of the project. Read more here.

Kimbell Royalty Partners LP will launch a corporate-sponsored special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) named Kimbell Tiger Acquisition Corp. The SPAC will target the energy and natural resources space in North America. Read more here.

Kraken Resources secured an equity commitment for its latest venture from Kayne Anderson. The commitment follows an upsized equity commitment to Kraken I, currently one of the largest private E&P companies in Williston Basin, by Kayne Anderson last December. Read more here.

CGG and PGS have signed a memorandum of understanding with a view to combine their seismic multiclient products and technical capabilities applied to the carbon capture, utilization and storage industry. Together, the companies intend to explore, conceptualize and create new derivative data products using existing seismic data to facilitate screening and evaluation of carbon storage sites.

Archrock Inc. sold “certain lower horsepower operating assets” to privately backed Park Energy Services LLC in a deal that Park said will enhance the company’s strategic position in South Texas and Pennsylvania. Read more here.

CGG S.A. entered into an agreement with Topicus.com Inc. and Vela Software for the sale of CGG’s GeoSoftware business. Topicus will own 60% of the business and Vela 40%.

Spartan Delta Corp. will acquire Velvet Energy Ltd., positioning Spartan as the largest producer and acreage holder in the oil window of Canada’s Montney fairway. Velvet’s operations include about 281,700 net acres of high working interest Montney Crown land across four development areas in Gold Creek, Karr, Pouce Coupe and Flatrock. Read more here.

News Corp will buy U.S. oil pricing agency Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and related assets from S&P Global and IHS Markit to double down on its energy, commodity and renewables database. OPIS provides real-time and historical spot, wholesale/rack and retail fuel prices for refined products, renewable fuels, and natural gas and NGL industries. Read more here.