August Newsreel: Pipeliner of the Year Mark Laney, Hal Kvisle Retires, Rod West Promoted and More

Pipeliners Association Names Mark Laney “Pipeliner of the Year”
Hal Kvisle Retires As CEO Of TransCanada
Rod West Named Chief Administrative Officer For Entergy
Texas Railroad Commission Eying Plastic Pipe To Replace Steel

Canusa-CPS, NRI Sign Sales And Marketing Agreement
Chesapeake More Active In Oil Projects, Chief Says
KKR Investing $400 Million To Develop Texas Shale Gas
EOG Canada To Acquire Galveston LNG Inc.
Tulsa Pipeline Expo Seeks To Attract Contractors
Questar Finalizes Spin-off Of QEP Resources
Do Abandoned Wells In Gulf Pose Threat?

Pipeliners Association Names Mark Laney “Pipeliner of the Year”
J. Marcus (Mark) Laney, co-owner of Laney Inc., Humble, TX, was honored by the Pipeliners Association of Houston with its “Pipeliner of the Year” award during the group’s dinner meeting June 7. Laney was recognized for his exemplary work in both road boring and directional drilling.

Laney got an early start in the road boring business working for Docs Road Boring when he was just 16 years old. Building on the knowledge he gained, Laney and his brothers Dickey and Steve, formed Laney Inc., in 1970. He soon recognized that horizontal directional drilling (HDD) would play a major role in the underground industry. A short time later he, along with Robert Hamil, designed and built their first HDD rig. Over the years the company has grown and is known as a premier road-boring contractor with 12 HDD rigs and four boring crews working in the U.S. and worldwide.

Also at the event, the following officers were elected for the 2010-2011 term: David Dacus, Troy Construction, LLC, president; Marcus Sexton, Trow Engineering Consultants, vice president; Allan Taylor, Mustang Engineering, treasurer; John Worrell, Prime Flexible Products, Inc., secretary; and Mark Reilly, Spectra Energy, assistant secretary.  For information, visit www.houstonpipeliners.org.

Hal Kvisle Retires As CEO Of TransCanada
TransCanada Corp. CEO Hal Kvisle retired June 30 and was replaced by
Russ Girling, chief operating officer. Kvisle will assist with the transition until Aug. 31 and serve as an adviser for Girling afterwards.

"Russ Girling is the right leader to deliver strong financial returns from our existing businesses and position the company for continued growth and success in the years ahead," Kvisle said in a news release. Kvisle was the keynote speaker at the 2010 Pipeline Opportunities Conference sponsored by Pipeline & Gas Journal.