May 25, 20233 min
Royal Helium appointed Mr. Karl F. Kurz to its Board of Directors who has over forty years of experience in the energy industry, including serving as the COO for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. He played a key role in Anadarko's acquisition by Occidental Petroleum in 2019, one of the largest mergers in oil and gas history. More recently, Karl was an operating adviser with Ares Capital, a leading specialty finance company, providing support on prospective and existing energy transactions. Mr. Kurz currently serves on the boards of Devon Energy, Texas Pacific Land Corp, and American Water Works. RHC has announced several additions to its team over the course of 2023 to strengthen its operational and management teams.
The other appointees include Brian Weston, with 40 years’ experience and senior executive positions at some of Canada’s largest oil and gas corporations. David Young, Head of US Operations was a principal at the Carlyle Group managing >US$4bn of natural resource investments. Brent Ziegler, as Helium Technical Lead, one of the leading helium process engineers.
Press Release:
Royal Helium Ltd is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Karl F. Kurz to the Board of Directors.
Mr. Kurz has over forty years of energy industry experience in the public and private markets, including serving as the Chief Operating Officer for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation from December 2006 through March 2009, which was acquired by Occidental Petroleum in one of the largest merger and acquisitions in oil and gas history for USD $55 billion in 2019. In that role, Mr. Kurz had responsibility for global exploration and production, marketing, midstream, land, technology, and engineering services. Karl joined Anadarko in 2000 and held various leadership positions in the marketing, midstream, exploration, and production areas. Mr. Kurz currently serves on the public boards of several multi-billion-dollar corporations, Devon Energy (DVN: NYSE), Texas Pacific Land Corp (TPL: NYSE) and American Water Works (AWK: NYSE) where he is the non-executive independent Chairman of the Board.
Andrew Davidson President and CEO comments. “We are pleased to have Karl join the Royal team as we expand our focus from helium exploration to now include production and sales. His senior management experience with some of America’s largest energy corporations will be invaluable as Royal expands its operations in Canada and increasingly in the US. An advanced understanding of midstream and marketing of gas will be a major component of our business success going forward, and we are very fortunate to benefit from Karl’s top tier experience.”
More recently, Karl was an operating adviser with Ares Capital, a leading specialty finance company, providing support on prospective and existing energy transactions. Karl was also a Managing Director with CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC and Co-Head of the Energy Group from September 2009 to September 2012. CCMP Capital Advisors is a leading global private equity firm specializing in buyouts and growth equity investments in companies ranging from $500 million to more than $3 billion in size.
Mr. Kurz began his career with ARCO Oil & Gas Company in 1983 and spent the early portion of his career in various upstream, marketing, and midstream roles. He holds a Bachelor of Science in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1983. He is also a graduate of Harvard’s Advanced Management Program in 2008.
Royal Helium also announces the grant of 500,000 stock options pursuant to the Company’s stock option plan to certain consultants and advisors to the Company. The options are exercisable at $0.40 per share and, if not exercised, expire May 25, 2028, subject to earlier expiration in accordance with the stock option plan and the applicable policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.