Mr Harwell has 10 years of oil and gas experience, most recently serving as the manager of special projects with Cannon Services, a privately held oilfield service company.

Prior to joining Cannon Services, he was with ExxonMobil Production Company, where he worked as a subsurface engineer and evaluated a variety of projects and full-field economics for the company’s US production group.

David Gibbs, Southern Star’s president, said: Doug has significant well completion and workover experience in the structures that run throughout the producing basins of east Texas, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. He has a firm understanding of the big picture, having designed and implemented a myriad of well-bore projects, all of which were designed to produce oil and natural gas at a well’s highest and best rate for optimum return on invested capital. He will begin immediately managing our development drilling program in the Sentell Field.