Plugging in: Friday, August 15, 2008

Published: August 15, 2008

Devon Energy Corp. has appointed William F. Whitsitt senior vice president of public affairs, the company has announced.

Whitsitt will be responsible for handling Devon's governmental relations, public relations and other communications efforts.

Whitsitt, company officials said, has represented Devon and other industry clients in Washington for many years.

Whitsitt operated a consulting practice in Washington for about 10 years and before that was director of government affairs for one of the world's largest law firms, Devon officials said.

Whitsitt is president of the American Exploration and Production Council, a trade association representing the largest U.S. independent oil and gas producers. The council is looking for a new president, Devon officials said.

TULSA — Don Hayes will become Unit. Corp.'s controller Sept. 1, the company said.

Hayes, Unit's assistant controller, is succeeding Stanley Belitz, who announced he is leaving the company.

Hayes, 49, has worked for Unit since 1984.

Hayes is a CPA who earned a master's degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University, the company said.

A Canadian company operating in Oklahoma reports increasing production numbers from its field here.

Petroflow Energy, based in Calgary, Alberta, said it continues to add wells in the Hunton Field in northern Oklahoma. The wells produced about 2,630 barrels of oil equivalent per day during July.

Of that, 18 percent of the production was oil, while the remainder was natural gas and natural gas liquids, officials said.

Sandy Andrew, Petroflow's chief operating officer, said the company has added nearly 650 barrels of oil equivalent per day to its production from its 45 wells since April.

OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's holding company revealed a new investment in power wholesaler NRG Energy Inc. on Thursday in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filings reveal several changes in Berkshire's stock holdings, including the sale of a large block of its Anheuser-Busch Cos. stock and the elimination of its Trane Inc. holdings.

Berkshire also received permission to conceal the status of its investment in ConocoPhillips during this quarter, which suggests Berkshire is either adding to or selling off its investment in the oil company. At the end of March, Berkshire held 17.5 million shares of ConocoPhillips stock.

SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has signed contracts to buy enough solar energy to power 239,000 homes a year.

The utility said Thursday that it will buy 800 megawatts of renewable energy from subsidiaries of Hayward-based OptiSolar Inc. and San Jose-based SunPower Corp.

The electricity will come from two large-scale solar projects to be built in San Luis Obispo County on the central California coast.

PG&E says it now has contracts to buy more than 3,600 megawatts of renewable energy representing more than 20 percent of its future power deliveries.

From Staff and Wire Reports

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