B.A. (Brian) Hepp has been appointed as a director to Heavy Earth’s board of directors.

Hepp has over 30 years of global engineering operations experience in the upstream petroleum industry, according to a news release. Prior to joining the UK-based oil and gas advisory firm, Rocky Mountain Ltd., where Hepp provided consulting services for TNK-BP, Petrofac, and others, he worked in drilling and production operations with Talisman Energy and BP Canada, as vice president of engineering and operations with Bitech Petroleum Ltd., and as group operations director for Northern Petroleum PLC. He began his career in 1982 as a process engineer with Fluor Canada Ltd.

Hepp was instrumental in increasing production in a northern Russian development from 600 to 10,000 b/d of oil in less than three years and increasing production from 450 to 6,000 b/d in a North African development in less than 18 months of his initial involvement, the release said. More recently, he spearheaded a successful drilling and hydraulic fracture campaign in Europe and subsequently managed the design and the installation of production treatment facilities, which came in ahead of expectations and under budget.

In his role as a board member, Hepp will be assisting management to ensure a safe and efficient execution of its operations strategy, the release said.