Penn Virginia Corp. unveiled changes to its management team on Jan. 5 including the departure of Benjamin A. Mathis, senior vice president of operations and engineering, from the Houston-based company.

Mathis joined Penn Virginia, the pure-play Eagle Ford shale producer, in September 2017 from Statoil, now known Equinor. He had previously served as drilling and completions manager for Statoil’s U.S. onshore including operations in the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Marcellus/Utica areas.

Around the time Mathis joined the Penn Virginia management team, the company acquired Devon Energy’s Eagle Ford properties and was looking to leverage his expertise as it planned to aggressively pursue the extensive inventory of drilling opportunities provided by the acquisition as well as its legacy assets in South Texas.

In a statement, Darrin Henke, president and CEO of Penn Virginia, thanked Mathis for his contributions to the company saying: “He has taken Penn Virginia’s drilling and completion program to the next level and positioned us well for the future. He has been a tremendous asset to Penn Virginia, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

During his more than 25-year long career, Mathis also held positions of increasing responsibility at Occidental Petroleum and Unocal. His departure from Penn Virginia took effect Jan. 4.

Separately, Penn Virginia also announced the appointment of Julia Gwaltney as senior vice president of development, effective Jan. 5. In the position, Gwaltney, who joins the company from Gary Permian LLC, will lead Penn Virginia’s subsurface, production, HSE, and resource development initiatives.

Prior to joining Penn Virginia, Gwaltney was the COO for Gary Permian and led the company’s entry into the Delaware Basin in the Permian and the development of the property. Previously, she was with Samson Resources as vice president of western operations, overseeing the Williston, Powder River, San Juan and Green River Basin assets. She also was previously employed with Encana for 14 years, where she assumed increasing roles of responsibility with her last role as vice president and general manager of the northern operations.

Gwaltney, who started her career at Burlington Resources, received her B.S. from Colorado School of Mines and is a registered petroleum engineer.

Onshore