People

Borets named Keith Russell president of Borets U.S., Jeremie Alley global marketing manager and Mark Wynot vice president of operations.

Tony Durrant became CEO of Premier Oil.

Swift Worldwide Resources has added to its management team with the appointment of Janette Marx as COO and Brian Coffman as global operations director and the promotion of Amber Polk to business services and safety manager for North America.

Gulfsands Petroleum selected Ian Conway as executive director of the firm.

Pat O’Bryan will become president of Fidelity Exploration & Production Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of MDU Resources Group Inc. Dennis Zander will take on the role of vice president of drilling and completions for Fidelity.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. named Robert Peterson president of its wholly owned subsidiary Occidental Chemical Corp.

The Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America has chosen James M. Pappas, P.E., to fill the position of acting president.

BW Group appointed Carsten Mortensen as CEO.

Gerry Gutierrez has been named to the new position of group vice president of telecommunications systems integration for Rignet Inc.

BlueTech Research added Marcus Oliver Gay to its team as senior director of research and professional services.

Zachary Grichor has joined the corporate sales team of Circulation Solutions LLC in the drilling fluids division.

Tekmar Energy has selected Dr. Terry Sheldrake as nonexecutive technical director and Charlie Sullivan as technical sales manager.

Edward Craner has taken on the role of senior vice president of strategy and marketing for Holt Cat.

Layne Christensen Co. has appointed David A.B. Brown, the nonexecutive chairman of the board, to serve in the additional capacities of president and CEO.

Jean-Luc Laloë joined Ceona’s advisory committee.

Randi Martinsen has assumed the presidency of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Leslie Shockley Beyer will serve as president of the Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association.

Edison Investment Research hired Peter Lynch as a U.K. oil and gas analyst.

Wood Group Intetech has chosen Sami Halfawi to be its Middle East regional manager.

David Phillips has taken on the role of head of industry and investor relations for Aker Solutions.

IDC Energy Insights hired Chris Niven as research director for oil and gas.

Greg Alvarado joined Mobideo as senior vice president for process industries.

Questerre appointed Earl Hickok to the board of directors.

Greene’s Energy Group LLC appointed Terry Hatcher vice president of human resources.

Former Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni has become deputy chairman of Rothschild.

TransAtlantic Petroleum made Harold “Lee” Muncy vice president of geosciences. The board expects to appoint Matthew W. McCann as general counsel and corporate secretary.

FTS International named Ken Kenner vice president of organizational learning and development.

Strike Energy Ltd. selected Jody Rowe and Brendan Ostwald to be nonexecutive directors.

Mark Hayes became general manager of ProSep’s manufacturing division.

Companies

Element Materials Technology is completing an expansion on its laboratory in Hitchin, U.K. The company is relocating all pressure testing installations to a new purpose-fitted facility with an area of 1,115 sq m (12,000 sq ft). The laboratory specializes in the testing and evaluation of elastomers, thermoplastics and composites.

Gall Thomson has opened a technology center in the U.K. that will be used for the design, refurbishment and testing of marine breakaway couplings. The technology center is located in Great Yarmouth, U.K., and contains the latest in assembly line and design technology.

Clariant will establish a research center in Shanghai, China, that is expected to begin operations by 2015. The goal of the center is to develop catalytic solutions tailored to Chinese market requirements and enhance technical service support to Chinese customers.

Statoil opened a new research center for IOR at Rotvoll in Trondheim, Norway. The center will be the largest of its kind in Norway with the goal of developing technologies that will lead to increased recovery rates. The heart of the center is a new industrial scanner with a resolution 500 times higher than a medical scanner, allowing researchers to follow the oil movement and flows in various rocks on pore level. Through high-resolution 2-D and 3-D images it will be possible to see which IOR method is best suited in each reservoir while getting a deeper understanding of how the reservoir is formed with regard to clay, pore size and cracks.