Leadership

Kalil Ackal is the leader of the White Fleet Services team. He has served as the drilling manager at Arena Offshore since 2004, where he supervised the drilling of over 100 operated wells. His expertise in rig installation and directional, horizontal and extended-reach drilling led Arena in successfully drilling some of the most complicated wells constantly under budget. Mr. Ackal worked as an operations manager turnkey contractor from 1999 to 2004, supervising approximately 130 drilling and completion projects for 41 different operators in the Gulf of Mexico and inland waters of Louisiana and Texas. From 1990 to 1999, Mr. Ackal worked for Union Pacific resources as a drilling superintendent. Before that, he was a drilling and production engineer for eight years at Marathon Oil Company in Lafayette, LA. Mr. Ackal earned a B.S. in petroleum engineering from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1982.

Brett Blanchard serves as White Fleet Abandonment’s Chief Operating Officer. He brings over 30 years of operations expertise in all phases of offshore production, construction and abandonment services. Prior to joining White Fleet Abandonment, Mr. Blanchard was the Chief Operating Officer of ARO Solutions LLC and Cochon Properties LLC, where he was instrumental in the acquisition of multiple full-field abandonment contracts and operations. His teams were recognized for their safety records and accomplishing projects on time and under budget. Mr. Blanchard also served as Vice President for Chet Morrison Contractors, LLC and early on in his career worked as a Senior Project Manager for Paloma Energy Consultants, Stolt Offshore, and Global Industries. Mr. Blanchard holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette (ULL), and is a certified Project Manager.

Gustaf Johansson acts as a Well Decommissioning Engineer. Drawing on twenty years of experience working for domestic and international service providers in the Gulf of Mexico, he is responsible for developing and executing well TA and P&A plans and projects, using rigless P&A spreads, coiled tubing units, abrasive cutting, mechanical cutting and wireline operations. Mr. Johansson directed decommissioning projects at Arena Offshore and Montco Oilfield Contractors. He has also worked for Black Elk Energy & Freedom Well Services, Crescent Energy Services, and other companies, and has been active in a range of industry organizations. Mr. Johansson graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Don Combs joined White Fleet Abandonment in 2023, bringing to the team nearly four decades of industry experience in production, workovers, and completions. As senior operations superintendent, he is responsible for the execution of P&A operations, including engineering procedure reviews, permitting, and cost control. Mr. Combs came to White Fleet from EnVen Energy Ventures, where he was a senior completion and production engineering advisor. Before that he served as a completion manager at Energy XXI. He has also held a range of production and completion engineering roles at Kerr-McGee Corporation and Apache Corporation. Mr. Combs earned a BS in petroleum engineering and an MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Michael McCauley joined Arena Offshore in 2007 as Production Manager and assumed the role of Operations General Manager in 2012. While in this role, Mr. McCauley was responsible for the safe and compliant execution of Arena’s Offshore GOM operations, including drilling, production, construction and decommissioning with an annual capital budget of $300MM. Mr. McCauley now serves as the Senior Vice President – Operations for White Fleet Abandonment developing decommissioning strategies and solutions for Well and Platform abandonment projects across the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to joining Arena, Mr. McCauley held positions that included decommissioning responsibilities at Newfield Exploration, Vastar Resources, ARCO Oil and Gas, Texaco, and Getty Oil. Mr. McCauley received a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Louisiana State University in 1982.

M.J. Plaisance joined White Fleet Abandonment in 2022, drawing more than twenty years of experience as a Certified Occupational Safety Manager. As the HSEQ manager for White Fleet, he is responsible for all aspects of safety, compliance, and training of all employees. He is also responsible for the company’s quality assurance plan for all equipment. Before coming to White Fleet, he spent nearly a decade at ARO Solutions, where he began as HSEQ manager and eventually became general manager. His experience in safety and compliance also includes serving as vice president of operations at SafeZone safety systems, HSE manager at Chet Morrison Contractors, and safety and compliance director at Quality Energy Services.

John Seeger joined White Fleet in 2021 as senior vice president of operations after eight years at Fieldwood Energy, where he was promoted through the organization and served as senior vice president of operations. He has directly managed $1.3 billion in decommissioning projects, including more than 350 platform removals, 500 wells, and 400 pipelines while maintaining an exemplary compliance record. Mr. Seeger has demonstrated a career-spanning commitment to safety, compliance and building teams that are focused on efficient project execution in both the shallow water, deepwater and onshore. He is widely recognized as an industry-leading well intervention expert whose input is sought for peer reviews, regulatory rule change comments, and joint-industry projects. He is a lifelong member of Veterans of Foreign Wars, and winner of several industry and non-profit veteran related awards. Mr. Seeger holds a BS in environmental sciences from Stephen F. Austin State University.

As Drilling Operations Coordinator, Rick Storey is responsible for coordinating daily operations between Enterprise Offshore Drilling (Management Team over WFD Rigs), our clients, and White Fleet's Senior Management staff. Mr. Storey’s extensive background brings more than 40 years of domestic and international experience in Operations and Marketing in the offshore industry. Prior to joining White Fleet Drilling in 2017, he held leadership positions such as Drilling Operations Manager and Director of Marketing for Marine Drilling, Pride International, and Hercules Offshore.

Shannon Coffel joined Arena Energy in 2007 in the Accounting Department. She has increased her responsibilities since that time and is now supervising the Accounts Payable, Joint Interest Billing, Cash and related general ledger activities on a daily basis. Ms. Coffel brought office management, retail, and banking experience to Arena and has been a positive addition to the Arena team over the past 10 years.

Sean Gore joined White Fleet in 2023 as chief financial officer, bringing a 30-year track record of leadership in finance and operations across the oil and gas industry. He has amassed expertise in strategic thought leadership, debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, SEC reporting, investor relations, treasury and cash management, restructuring, and private equity. His international experience spans Northern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Before joining White Fleet, he was CEO of Global Geophysical Services, a land seismic company with operations across the globe; he also served as CFO and VP of corporate development for the company. Earlier in his career he held VP roles in finance and business development at Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, a Norwegian oilfield services company. He led the company’s accounting and reporting organization worldwide and managed new technology venture activities in the oil and gas exploration sector through its subsidiary PGS Capital. Mr. Gore holds a BBA in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.

Amos Lagarde joined White Fleet Abandonment in 2022, working as a senior operations engineer focused on plugging wells and well intervention. He draws on fifteen years of experience in the investigation, design, operation and management of decommissioning oil fields throughout the Gulf Coast region on and offshore. Mr. Lagarde has held engineering positions at Alliance Energy Services, ARO Solutions, Knight Oil Tools, and Baker Hughes Inteq. He has a BS in mechanical engineering from Southern University and A&M College.

Gregory Kubes became a construction manager for White Fleet Abandonment in 2022. He is responsible for managing the engineering and construction support for offshore operations, with a goal of ensuring safety for human life, the environment, and property owned by the company and its service providers. For more than fifteen years he served as a project engineer at Paloma Energy Consultants, during which time he worked on various construction projects for Arena Offshore. Before completing his college degree and entering the oil and gas industry, Mr. Kubes had a career as a minor league pitcher, fulfilling a seven-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Mr. Kubes holds a BS in industrial technology from Sam Houston State University.

John Underwood joined the team at White Fleet Abandonment in 2022 as a senior operations engineer focused on well decommissioning. With two decades of experience in production engineering primarily at Freeport McMoRan (formerly Newfield Exploration) and at Shell, he has been a decommissioning team leader, production engineering manager, and fulfilled various other engineering roles. In addition to his work in the oil and gas industry, he has an unusually diverse track record as a high school science educator: in several appointments totaling 14 years, he taught advanced chemistry, physics, math and other subjects in Japan, China, Turkey, and the US. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University and completed graduate studies at the University of Houston School of Technology, earning several certifications in occupational technology education.

Natalie Schumann joined White Fleet in 2021, bringing more than twenty years of experience in all aspects of permitting in the oil and gas industry. As the regulatory manager for White Fleet, Natalie is responsible for the management and preparation of all regulatory and compliance affairs associated with the company’s decommissioning operations. Prior to joining White Fleet, Natalie was employed by J. Connor Consulting, Inc., REM Solutions, Inc., Hilcorp Energy, Energy XXI and Castex Energy Inc. Across these roles, she was responsible for the management and preparation of all the regulatory and compliance permitting for oil and gas acquisitions, abandonment, exploration, construction, production and development operations in the Outer Continental Shelf, Gulf of Mexico, federal waters, onshore Louisiana, and Texas. From 2003 to 2010, as an employee of REM Solutions, she was the regulatory consultant for Arena Offshore.