The Western Energy Alliance has named Kathleen Sgamma, who has served as the organization’s vice-president of government and public affairs for several years, as its president. She succeeds Tim Wigley, who has served as the Denver-based independent oil and gas producers’ organization’s president since 2012. Source: News

BP PLC has sanctioned the Mad Dog Phase 2 project, which will include a floating production platform with the capacity to produce as much as 140,000 b/d of crude oil from as many as 14 production wells. Production is scheduled for late 2021. Source: News

Venezuela on Dec. 5 reportedly will sign an agreement with neighboring Trinidad and Tobago to supply the Caribbean twin-island nation with as much as 500 MMcfd of natural gas from its fields in the Mariscal Sucre region. Source: News

A near 2-year-long contraction of the Texas oil and gas industry economy now dwindles as higher wellhead prices have revived the state’s drilling and permitting activity. Source: News

David Honeyfield has been appointed chief financial officer of PDC Energy Inc., Denver, where he’ll oversee the firm’s financial, accounting, and treasury functions. The move is effective Dec. 19. Source: News