William Thomas: EOG Resources Chairman & CEO

William “Bill” Thomas holds a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from Texas A&M University at College Station. Early in Bill’s career, he held various technical positions such as district geologist, senior exploration geologies and production geologists. He began his career as a district engineer, at Dowell, an oil field services company. In 1979 he joined an EOG predecessor company as a production engineer in the firm’s Sonara offices. Bill also led EOG offices in Midland and Corpus Christi, where he was named Vice President and General Manger in 1988. 

Bill spearheaded EOG’s move to explore horizontal share potential with the development of EOG’s Barnett Shale Play in North Texas and other key resource plays. While baed in Fort Worth, Bill was Executive Vice President and prior to that was Senior Vice President ang General Manager, beginning in June 2004. He moved to the company’s Houston headquarters in February 2011. 

He was named President in September 2011, and President and Chief Executive Officer in June 2013. In January 2014, Bill was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EOG Resources, Inc. He has been with EOG and its predecessor companies for over 36 years. 

Bill is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist, the Forth Worth Geological Society and the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association. He is an advocate for EOG’s community charity activities, and Bill and his wife Jane serve on the board of Casa de Esperanza. He is an active church member and is a strong supporter of international relief efforts through Samaritan’s Purse. 

EOG Resources, Inc. is one of the largest independent (non-integrated) crude oil and natural gas companies in the United States with proved reserves in the United States, Canada, Trinidad, the United Kingdom and China. EOG is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and is traded under the ticker symbol “EOG”.  As of 2014, the firm’s net operating revenues was at $18 billion and net income was $2.9 billion. 

Steven J. Kean: Kinder Morgan President & CEO

Steven J. Kean earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and a law degree from the University of Iowa. Intending to become a lawyer he instead became a lobbyist and an executive. Steven joined Enron Corp. and climbed the corporate ladder becoming chief of staff for the late Ken Lay, the former CEO of energy company which had a spectacular collapse. He left after the company entered bankruptcy in 2001 and joined Kinder Morgan. Unlike his boss Steven was never criminally charged and his civil case was dropped.

Steven became known at Kinder Morgan as someone good at ironing out details of complex acquisitions. The company bought 3,400 miles of pipeline from Tejas Gas in 2002, more than doubling the mileage gas pipe it has been running through Texas. It was also during this time that Steve was hired by the company as a young executive. 

In a matter of months he was leading the drive to integrate the newly bought pipeline asset into the business of Kinder Morgan. Steven’s work would set the groundwork for the company’s eventual status as the largest natural gas infrastructure operator in North America. It also set him as a front running contender to succeed company co-founder and CEO Richard Kinder. 

He became chief operating officer in January 2006. A few months before that he had joined the company’s executive inner circle when he was included in its Office of the Chairman, a triumvirate that at the time comprised Steven, Richard, and then-president Park Shaper.

Steven had a central and increasingly public leadership role by 2013. It was announced in December 2014 that Steven would succeed Richard Kinder as CEO, this didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. 

Steven is now responsible for developing and executing the company’s vision and strategy and allocating capital to Kinder Morgan business units in a discipline manner. He also coordinates the company’s efforts to achieve operational excellence.

Steve W. Laut: Canadian Natural Resources Director & President

Steve W. Laut earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary. Steve joined Canadian Natural Resources Limited in 1991 as Senior Exploitation Engineer and rose through the ranks becoming Vice President for Operation in 1996. The following year he was named Senior Vice President of the company. In 2001, Steve was promoted to Executive Vice President of Operations holding that position until 2003. 

Steve became President of Canadian Natural Resources Limited in April 2005 and serves as its Principal Executive Officer. 

Before bagging the top post his career saw him hold various positions including Reservoir Engineer and Production Engineer with Poco Petroleum, Adams Pearson, Petro-Canada, Dome Petroleum and Unocal.  

Steve has been a Non-Independent Director of Natural Resources Limited since August 1, 2006. He serves as a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA). 

Canadian Natural Resource is one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world. It is a senior independent crude oil and natural gas exploration, development and production company. 

Alexey Miller: Gazprom CEO

Alexey Borisovich Miller was born on January 31, 1962 in Leningrad (now Saint. Petersburg), Russia to a family of German ethnicity.  In 1989 he earned a PhD in Economics from the N.A. Voznesenkii Leningrad Finance and Economics Institute.

After graduating, Alexey began his professional career as an engineer-economist at the general planning division of the Leningrad Civil Construction Research and Design Institute (LenNIIproekt under the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council).

Alexey served with the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor’s Office under Vladimir Putin from 1991 to 1996.  He was Director for Development and Investments of the Port of Saint Petersburg from 1996 to 1999. Alexey then served as Director General of the Baltic Pipeline System from 1999 to 2000. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation in 2000.

Alexey became the Chairman of the Management Committee (CEO) of Gazprom in 2001.

Gazprom is Russia’s largest company and the biggest gas producer in the world accounting for around 13 percent of the world’s gas production. 

Ben van Beurden: Royal Dutch Shell CEO

Ben van Beurden was born on April 23, 1958 in the Netherlands. After graduating with a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands he joined Royal Dutch Shell.

Ben is considered a “lifer” at Shell having stayed with the company throughout his career. This has given Ben the advantage of knowing the company inside out. His career at Shell exposed him to both Upstream and Downstream activities He began working in the Netherlands and at the Port Sudan Refinery in Sudan. He has been based in Africa, Malaysia, the U.S. and the U.K. Ben has held a number of operational and commercial position and a variety of positions in the Downstream.

He was appointed Vice President, Manufacturing and Excellence, based in Houston, Texas in 2005. In this role Ben was responsible for standards and operational excellence and high-performance initiatives in refining and chemicals manufacturing.

In December 2006, Ben became Executive Vice President, Chemicals, based in London, UK. He is credited with turning around Shell’s struggling chemicals division. From a loss making enterprise in 2008, the Chemicals business now contributes 5 percent of net earnings. Ben also worked for 10 years in Shell’s liquefied natural gas business, which has become a crucial driver of the group’s growth.

He was Downstream Director and had responsibility for Europe and Turkey from January to September 2013. Ben has been a member of the Executive Committee since January 2013. He became Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2014.

His promotion came as a surprise as there were others higher in rank and listed as front runners. His name was not on the list. Ben is not that well known as other Shell executive outside of the company. Top management though chose someone with solid company experience and proven track record.

Royal Dutch Shell is one of the largest companies in the world generating revenue of $451.2 billion in 2013.

Greg L. Armstrong: PAA CEO

Greg L. Armstrong graduated from the Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a degree in accounting and management. Greg is also a Certified Public Accountant. He has been with Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) or its predecessors since 1981.

Greg among other positions held was Corporate Secretary of Plains Resources Inc. from 1981 to 1988. He served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 1984 to 1991. Greg had been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Plains Resources, Inc. from October 1992 to May 2001.

Since January 2010 Greg has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PNGS GP LLC and General Partner of PAA Natural Gas Storage, LLC. Plains All American Pipeline L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership which completed its IPO in 2010. Greg is the CEO of this firm. 

PAA gets majority of its revenue from the transportation, storage, terminalling and marketing of crude oil and refined products. Under Greg’s management, PAA has greatly enlarged its influence in natural gas storage, acquiring the remaining 50 percent interest in PAA Natural Gas Storage in 2009.

Greg sees the big role and demand natural gas will have in the country and is taking the necessary steps so that PAA can greatly profit from the situation.