?• Williams Cos., Tulsa, Okla., (NYSE: WMB) is looking at a possible spin-off of one or more of its units in the new year. The company will make a decision in early 2009. Williams’ businesses span natural gas E&P, gathering and processing, and interstate transportation.

• U.S. Energy Corp., Riverton, Wyo., (Nasdaq: USEG) has suspended its application for a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange because of the current global financial situation. The company will continue to be listed on the Nasdaq.

• Jeff Hayden has joined investment bank Rodman & Renshaw as senior oil and gas analyst covering U.S. E&P companies in the Houston office.
Hayden is also a managing director. He has more than 10 years of experience in energy research and finance. He was a senior research analyst at Pritchard Capital Partners LLC. Before that, he was managing director and co-portfolio manager of Fischer-Seitz Capital Partners LLC, an oil and gas E&P-focused investment firm, and prior to that, he was director of E&P research for Pickering Energy Partners Inc. and held associate positions with JPMorgan, Fleming Asset Management Inc. and Banc of America Securities LLC.
Chad Mabry, also formerly with Pritchard Capital, has joined Hayden at Rodman & Renshaw as associate oil and gas analyst.

• James A. Hansen, David Blackstock and Kathryn Bortel have joined the Houston energy group at Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. They will be working with Kevin Andrews, David Hanse and the energy group team.
The three had been with American Technology Research Inc. and left after the company was acquired by Broadpoint Capital Inc. in September, which then exited the traditional energy corporate finance and research coverage business.

• Steven (Steve) R. Pottle has formed Houston-based Haywood Dorland Energy Capital LLC, a financial advisory and merchant-banking firm, as managing director and principal. Pottle was previously with HSH Nordbank in the energy structured-finance group, and with UBS, The Industrial Bank of Japan, Deutsche Bank Securities and Commerzbank, all in senior positions. Past clients have included major oils as well as independents, including ATP Oil & Gas, Chesapeake Energy Corp., Goldking Energy Corp. and Beryl Oil & Gas.

• GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of GE, Fairfield, Conn., (NYSE: GE) has formed a partnership with Addison, Texas-based TriTex Energy LLC to acquire proved reserves in southeastern New Mexico for $31 million.
GE Energy Financial Services has invested more than $360 million in proved reserves in five transactions this year, an annual record for the business.
GE Energy Financial Services is investing $30 million as the 98% limited partner and TriTex Energy is investing the balance as the 2% general partner and operator. The new alliance, TriTex Energy A LP, plans to invest an additional $14 million to develop and produce proved reserves over the next two years.

• Khalid A. Al-Falih has been named president and chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco, effective Jan. 1. Al-Falih, currently executive vice president of operations, will succeed Abdallah S. Jum’ah, who is retiring after 40 years with Saudi Aramco, including nearly 14 years as president and CEO. Al-Falih has worked for Saudi Aramco for almost three decades and rose to senior management positions in the oil and gas sectors, including E&P, refining and international operations. Al-Falih joined Saudi Aramco in 1979 and was sponsored to study at Texas A&M University where he received a degree in mechanical engineering in 1982.

• Peter Voser will succeed Jeroen van der Veer as chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, London, (NYSE: RDS) on July 1. Voser is chief financial officer and a director since October 2004. Voser joined the company in 1982 and held a number of finance and business roles in Switzerland, Argentina, Chile and the U.K. until March 2002. He then joined Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Ltd. as chief financial officer.

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