Talos Energy Inc. appointed John Spath as executive vice president and head of operations, effective immediately, according to a Dec. 1 press release. Spath will be responsible for Talos’ upstream business operations.

Spath, with over 28 years of energy industry experience, recently served as senior vice president (SVP) of operations and  held positions as SVP of drilling and production operations, VP of production operations and drilling manager at Talos, the release stated.

 Spath began his career at McDermott as a process engineer, followed by over eight years at Marathon Oil Corp. and served as an independent consultant on deepwater drilling and completion projects before joining Talos in 2013.

Spath succeeds Robert “Bob” Abendschein, executive VP and COO.