Energy In-depth: Murphy Oil names new board director, promotes two executives to top corporate posts

Editor’s note: Each Friday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Energy In-depth,” a round-up of energy and regulatory news. 

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MURPHY OIL NAMES NEW BOARD DIRECTOR, PROMOTES TWO EXECUTIVES TO TOP CORPORATE POSTS
Murphy Oil Corp. has named Louisiana native and farming venture capitalist Elisabeth Keller to the company’s board of directors, company officials announced on Tuesday (Dec. 6). Keller is board chair of Baton Rouge, La.-based Keller Enterprises LLC, and is responsible for the oversight of the vision, mission and performance of a private family company devoted to investing, farming and philanthropy. She also serves as a board member for Community Health and Education for Rural Africa (CHERA), a non-profit focused on improving the lives of impoverished communities through education and health care.

The board of the El Dorado oil company also announced that hat Eugene “Gene” Coleman and Michael McFadyen have been elected Executive Vice Presidents of the company. Coleman is currently serving as executive vice president of offshore operations for Murphy Exploration & Production Co., where he oversees all the company’s deepwater drilling and development.

McFadyen is serving as executive vice president of onshore operations for Murphy Exploration & Production Co. He is also president of Murphy Oil Company Ltd., the Arkansas oil giant’s Canadian subsidiary.

ENTERGY TERMINATES POWER PACT WITH MICHIGAN UTILITY, PLANS TO SHUT DOWN NUCLEAR FACILITY IN LATE 2018
Entergy Corp. and Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest utility and the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy, have agreed to an early termination of their power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Palisades Power Plant in Covert Township in 2018. The agreement, which will lower the costs to Consumers’ customers by as much as $172 million over four years, is subject to regulatory approvals. Separately, Entergy said it intends to shut down the Palisades nuclear power plant permanently on Oct. 1, 2018.

The original agreement committed Consumers Energy to purchase nearly all of the power that Palisades generates through April 2022. Under the current plan, Palisades will be refueled as scheduled in the spring of 2017 and operate through the end of the fuel cycle, then permanently shut down on Oct. 1, 2018. Since first entering into a PPA in 2007, when Entergy purchased Palisades from Consumers Energy, market conditions have changed substantially, and more economic alternatives are now available to provide reliable power to the region. The transaction is expected to result in $344 million in savings, $172 million of which is expected to lower Consumers Energy customers’ costs over the early termination period from 2018 to 2022.

GEORGIA-PACIFIC’S CROSSETT PAPER MILL RECOGNIZED BY PARENT KOCH INDUSTRIES FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION
Georgia-Pacific’s Crossett Paper Operations have been recognized by its parent company, Koch Industries, for achievements in reducing electrical power consumption. In 2015, the Crossett paper mill reduced energy use by more than 11.7 million kilowatt hours (kWhs), which is equivalent to the annual electrical consumption of 1,080 U.S. residential utility customers. Rick Robertson, Georgia-Pacific energy leader, said Koch Industries challenged all its companies a few years ago to make strides in reducing energy consumption. Since 2013, Georgia-Pacific Crossett has saved more than 32 million kWhs in electricity, and is on pace to save approximately 14.5 million kWhs in 2016, company officials said.