posted
Touchstone Hires Roger Abel, Former Senior Conoco And Occidental Petroleum Executive, As Chairman And CEO 09:15 a.m. 07/21/2005 Provided by Business Wire
HOUSTON, Jul 21, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Touchstone Resources USA, Inc. (TSNU), an independent oil and gas exploration, development and production company, announced today that it has hired Roger Abel to serve as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Abel will assume these positions effective August 15, 2005.
Mr. Abel has over 35 years experience in the oil and gas industry. Between 1968 and 1996, Mr. Abel held a number of domestic and international positions at Conoco, most recently serving as Chairman of Conoco Exploration and Production for Europe where he was responsible for all of Conoco's upstream activities in Europe and Russia. His prior roles at Conoco include Vice President and General Manager, Dubai Petroleum Company, Manager of Operations for the UK and Europe, Manager of Planning, Administration and Engineering for North America, Vice President and General Manager of Conoco's Engineering and Research Department, and Vice President and General Manager-Russia.
From 1997 through 1999, Mr. Abel served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, and Executive Vice President of Occidental Petroleum in Bakersfield, CA where he led Occidental's oil and gas operations through a major restructuring. During this time, Occidental Petroleum disposed of a number of less profitable assets, consummated major property exchanges, acquired significant new interests in several large producing assets, streamlined its organization, and completed the acquisition of the US Government's interests in the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve. During his tenure, Occidental Oil and Gas grew from one-quarter to two-thirds of Occidental Petroleum. Since retiring from Occidental in 1999, Mr. Abel has continued to actively participant in oil and gas exploration and development projects in the United States.
Mr. Abel received his undergraduate degree in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines and earned a Master of Science degree in Management from MIT's Sloan School of Management. He served in the US Army from 1966 to 1968, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Vietnam, and retired from military service at the rank of Captain.
Stephen P. Harrington will resign from his positions as Touchstone's CEO, Treasurer and Secretary, and as a director effective upon Mr. Abel's appointment on August 15, 2005. Mr. Harrington said, "We are excited to have an executive with such a distinguished and proven track record as Mr. Abel joining Touchstone. We have great confidence in his ability to lead Touchstone through its next phase of growth. We look forward to having Mr. Abel fully evaluate our current portfolio of assets and position Touchstone for the next step in its evolution."
Commenting on his new position, Mr. Abel stated, "Our industry is in the midst of significant change in the energy markets both internationally and domestically. I believe that great acquisition and development opportunities still exist, even in this environment of high oil and gas prices. I expect to position Touchstone in the future to take advantage of the current industry environment by engaging in a program of relatively low risk, high potential exploration projects, by participating in development projects in non-conventional gas resources, and by utilizing industry contacts to acquire projects from the larger independents and majors. I look forward to getting started on this exciting assignment."
About Touchstone Resources USA, Inc.
Touchstone Resources USA, Inc. is engaged in oil and gas exploration, development and production in Texas, Louisiana and other traditional oil and gas producing states in the Southern United States, as well as in New Zealand. Touchstone employs the most modern techniques, such as horizontal drilling, 3D seismic analytics and advanced, proprietary amplitude surveys to detect high potential, relatively low risk prospects geared more toward the shorter term as well as high yield, higher risk prospects for the longer term.
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
