Top Speakers

B.J. Kruse III P.E
Chief, Office of Structural and Technical Support
U.S. Department of the Interior

Minerals Management Service

B.J. is a registered Professional Petroleum Engineer in Louisiana with 33 years of oil industry and government experience. He received a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from L.S.U. in 1974 and also has a M.A. in Economics with a minor in Finance from the University of New Orleans in 1987.  He has over seventeen years experience as an operations engineer, reservoir engineer, production engineer, and completions engineer with major oil corporations such as Union Oil Company of California, Gulf Oil Corporation and Chevron U.S.A., Inc. He has spent the last sixteen years with the Minerals Management Service as a staff petroleum engineer and supervisory petroleum engineer dealing with deepwater production, workover and operational issues, as well as the design, installation, repair, modification, and decommissioning issues associated with offshore platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico.

Alan Simcock

Former Chairman and Chief Executive
OSPAR

Following a number of roles in local government and at 10 Downing street, including 3 years as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Simcock was employed in a variety of senior positions in DEFRA and its predecessors. In 1990 he was appointed head of the division responsible for the marine environment and subsequently Chairman (1996) and then Executive Secretary (2001) of the OSPAR Commission. In 1998 he led international ministerial negotiations on long term strategies for the disposal of disused offshore installations and more recently spent 3 years as chair of the UN Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea.

Robert C. Byrd
Sr. Vice President
Proserv, Inc.

Dr. Byrd is a Sr. Vice President at Proserv Decommissioning Contractors & Engineers, Inc. (formerly Twachtman Snyder & Byrd, Inc.), of Houston, Texas, where he is responsible for engineering and consulting services.  He is a former U.S. Coast Guard officer.  He has over thirty years of experience in the offshore oil and gas industry in a variety of different capacities.   For the past 15 years he has focused on offshore oil and gas platform decommissioning.  He has developed decommissioning plans and cost estimates for many of the platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore California and in South and Southeast Asia.  Dr. Byrd  received his B.S. in Marine Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, M.S. in Ocean Engineering from the University of Alaska, and Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley where he was a Hans Albert Einstein Fellow and received a National Sea Grant Award for Applied Marine Research on offshore platform loading in earthquakes.  He is a registered Professional Engineer and member of the ASCE, SNAME, and MTS.

Dick Ward
Vice President International Operations
TETRA Technologies, Inc.

Dick has over 36 years of experience in the areas of professional engineering, construction management, project management, and construction operations for offshore oil and gas facilities and pipelines, as well as for onshore facilities. His international experience includes working in Europe, West Africa, Central Asia, Former Soviet Union, Asia, India, and the Middle East.

Before TETRA, Dick held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Project Officer with Aerobus International, Inc., whose business is to develop and install mass transit systems worldwide. Prior to Aerobus, Dick served as Senior Vice President, Eastern Hemisphere Operations and Area Vice President Asia Pacific for Global Industries Offshore, Ltd. Dick also spent 23 years with McDermott International, Inc. in the positions of Vice President & General Manager, Project Director, Senior Project Manager, Resident Manager, and Marine Maintenance Supervisor.

Jack Leezy
Environmental, Safety & Regulatory Specialist
Mariner Energy, Inc.

Mr. Jack Leezy is employed by Mariner Energy, Inc. (MEI) as an Environmental, Safety & Regulatory Specialist with responsibilities of preparing and obtaining governmental approval for decommissioning activities within his area of responsibility for MEI.  Prior to coming to work for MEI Mr. Leezy worked for the Mineral Management Service for 32 years in Field Operations as a Supervisory Inspector in the Houma and New Orleans Districts and as the Operations Analyst.  Mr. Leezy has dealt with decommissioning issues from a regulator standpoint to an industry standpoint.  Mr. Leezy deeply understands the issues of governmental regulations, as he conducted a comprehensive review of the regulatory requirements of the Health & Safety Executive of the UK, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and that of the Minerals Management and prepared a report for MMS’s review.

Mark J. Kaiser
Professor and Director, Research and Development,
at the Center for Energy Studies
Louisiana State University

Mark J. Kaiser is Professor and Director, Research and Development, at the Center for Energy Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His primary research interests are related to policy issues, modeling, and econometric studies in the oil and gas industry. Prior to joining LSU in 2001, he held appointments at Auburn University, the American University of Armenia, and Wichita State University. Dr Kaiser holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University.

Chris Evans
Project Manager
InterAct PMTI

Chris Evans is a Project Manager with InterAct PMTI, he has over
15 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry.  Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and now with Ike, Chris has been a leader in well intervention work and toppled platform salvage. Additionally, Chris manages down-hole projects across the spectrum of a well's life to include completion, work-over and plug and abandon activities.

Mads Bårdsen
Director International Business and
Technology Development
Trico Marine

Mr. Bårdsen has a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and a Master in Technology Management (MTM/MBA) from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and National University of Singapore.

He has been with Trico Marine since 2002 and is engaged in developing specialised subsea vessels, ROV-based subsea tooling and operational methods within ROV-based subsea decommissiong, inspection, maintenance and repair.

Prior to this he was with Stolt Comex Seaway (now Acergy) in different positions within engineering.

Jan Ingar Knudsen
Naval Architect, M.Sc.
The Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim

Mr. Knudsen has 35 years of experience from offshore field development projects related to marine operations such as platform installations, pipelaying, offshore loading and subsea installation work. He has had several project manager positions and has been employed by Viking Offshore Pipelines, Pusnes, DnV, Saga Petroleum, Statoil, Hydro, StatoilHydro and now Master Marine as Operations Manager. The projects have mainly been in the North Sea, but he has also experience from GoM and field development in Brazil.

J. Clifton Hall III
Founding Shareholder
Westmoreland Hall

J. Clifton Hall III is a founding shareholder of Westmoreland Hall. Clif practices in the energy sector where he concentrates on insurance coverage disputes, other commercial disputes and subrogation matters.  He has advised numerous insurers on coverage claims in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  He also has worked on non-marine insurance issues including professional indemnity for lawyers and accountants, property, political risk and various types of business interruption claims.  Clif also represents non-insurer clients in a variety of commercial disputes.

Calvin C. Barnhill
President
Northstar Exploration Company

Calvin C. Barnhill is a registered Professional Petroleum Engineer, who holds two degrees in Petroleum Engineering.  A Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering was obtained in 1975 from Louisiana State University (LSU).  A Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering was obtained from LSU in 1977.  He has worked in the oil and gas industry since the late 1960s and has 40 years of work experience.  Mr. Barnhill has been president of Northstar Exploration Company since 1986.  He and his family currently reside in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Jeff Wright
Tax Partner
Deloitte

Jeff is a Tax Partner in the Houston office of Deloitte Tax LLP and has more than 16 years of professional experience in consulting with clients in various industries on a wide range of tax issues.  Jeff is currently the tax leader of the Firm’s U.S. oil and gas industry practice.  He is also a leader in Accounting Periods and Methods Competency group.

He specializes in providing technical and strategic advice to clients on handling procedural matters and tax controversies before the IRS and the United States Tax Court.

Jeff has a BBA in Accounting from Texas A&M University and a J. D. from the University of Houston Law Center.  Jeff is a Member of the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court.

Edgar A. Anderson, P.E.
President
Maritech Resources

Having been with Maritech since 2000, Edgar's work has led to an outstanding record of accomplishments. He was involved in Maritech’s initial acquisitions of oil and gas properties and has been instrumental in the company’s rapid growth and profitability.

Before his tenure at Maritech, Edgar was Vice President of Global Industries and Chief Executive of Global Production, LLC. Prior to that, he was Exploitation Engineering Advisor at Kerr-McGee Oil and Gas of Houston, Texas, where he received the LEAP award for his contributions. As a Senior Staff Engineer for Sonat Exploration Corporation of Houston, Texas, Edgar received the Chairman’s Award for innovative completion ideas and production improvement contributions. He also served as a Senior Engineer for Pennzoil of Houston, Texas for 10 years.  He is, also, a former Board Member and Secretary of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Gulf Coast Section

Pat Campbell
President
Chief Operating Officer

Pat Campbell is President and Chief Operating Officer of Wild Well Control, Inc., a Houston, Texas based company specializing in worldwide firefighting, well control and engineering services. Pat has over 30 years of experience in well control and blowout prevention, sub sea well completions, snubbing and coiled tubing operations, well control response planning and various engineering studies for oil companies worldwide. As President and Chief Operating officer, Pat supervises sales, administrative duties, operations and the manufacturing of specialty equipment for workover and well control operations.

In Kuwait in 1991, Pat supervised Wild Well Control’s firefighting teams in the capping of 137 wells with no accidents. Using emergency response planning and stringent safety procedures at all times, Wild Well Control’s performance in Kuwait was documented and publicized extensively through the national and international media, special reports and documentary films.

Pat’s experience includes the introduction and directing of capping operations on high volume H2S wells while burning to minimize environmental damages and hazards to personnel. Pat has worked on sub sea completions and participated in the design, manufacture and installation of special sub sea manifold systems in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.

Pat’s continuing education includes drilling techniques and blowout prevention at the University of Oklahoma, well control practices, H2S safety, snubbing and coiled tubing procedures, and executive and managerial development at Texas A & M University.