SunTerra Management
Jim Hughes, CEO and President
Mr. Hughes has thirty years of experience in all phases of the upstream oil and gas business. His first twelve years were devoted to drilling & production operations, prospect generation, and acquisitions under the tutelage of Dr David K. Davies, his first employer & mentor, who taught him extensive completion design practice using formation damage prevention techniques. Over the next eight years, Mr. Hughes, under a license from AMOCO, utilized short radius curve drilling and underbalanced horizontal drilling technology (“UBHD”) as a completion method to improve productivity. After several years of R&D and purchasing his own drilling rig, in 1991, Mr. Hughes, using an air hammer, drilled what is believed to be the first horizontal lateral from a short radius (25’) curve. He also spent a considerable amount of time evaluating reservoirs for the recovery of by-passed reserves, using UBHD technology as a completion technique. During this time, he was part of the first technical team invited to Oman to recommend well construction methods and to evaluate indigenous oil fields for redevelopment using UBHD technology.
Mr. Hughes has devoted most of the last ten years to patenting new technologies related to UBHD, including a new short radius rotary steerable BHA, an artificial lift while drilling process for managed pressure drilling, and smart drill pipe. He currently holds fourteen patents related to UBHD and is a co-author of Gulf Publishing Company’s new book titled “Managed Pressure Drilling”. Mr. Hughes is a graduate of the University of Missouri with a BS degree in Geology.
Bob Cuthbertson, P.E., Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Robert L. “Bob” Cuthbertson has over 38 years of petroleum experience, covering reservoir engineering, design and construction of surface & gas plant facilities and pipelines. His background includes field & office oversight of workovers, completions, drilling, production and operations. Mr. Cuthbertson started his career with Exxon Corporation on the King Ranch, then with Quintana Petroleum Corporation and subsequently his with own independent oil company. His operating experience includes South Texas, the Gulf Coast, California, Wyoming, the Appalachian Basin, West Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and internationally in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Oman, the North Sea, Indonesia and China.
Mr. Cuthbertson has extensive international & domestic experience in underbalanced drilling and worked for Weatherford International as their Global UBD Technology Manager, Global Manager for Unconventional Gas and Global Manager of Managed Pressure Drilling. Mr. Cuthbertson most recently served as President of Seven Energy, a Weatherford E&P subsidiary devoted to the establishment of reserves through the use of Weatherford’s own proprietary UBHD services. Mr. Cuthbertson is an honor graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering.
Rodney Bray, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Bray has over 35 years of diversified financial and operations experience, including 26 years in the oil industry. After his first job of out college as an auditor with a Big 8 CPA firm, Mr. Bray started his career in the oil industry with a Fortune 500 independent, Tesoro Petroleum where he became Manager of Budgeting and Planning for their refining and marketing divisions. Mr. Bray then became the Controller of an independent refiner, gas processor and gas gatherer before moving into the E&P business with Russell Petroleum as Controller. He subsequently became CFO of Andress Petroleum in Houston, an oil and gas independent with primary operations in the Texas Gulf Coast. He then joined Harken Energy where his assignments included VP of MIS, and M&A, where Mr. Bray made successful acquisitions of oil and gas properties, retail gasoline companies, and a major natural gas marketer, Tejas Power Corp. He then became CEO, President of Aloha Petroleum, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harken Energy, and the largest refined products marketer in Hawaii. Mr. Bray then got back into the exploration and production business with assignments including Corporate Treasurer and Investor Relations for a NYSE independent E&P company, Newfield Exploration. With Newfield, he also handled all oil and gas marketing and hedging. Mr. Bray’s operating assignments include Executive VP of Eminent Oil and Gas, an E&P independent with operations in the Gulf Coast and Swedish investors.
Mr. Bray’s diversified skills include role a stint in the home building business in 2002-2007 as VP of Finance, CFO and VP of Land for Obra Homes, a top 100 home builder. He joined the SunTerra team in June 2008 as CFO, working on the private placement memorandum, presentations and the “road shows”, in the capital raising efforts for SunTerra. Mr. Bray is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a B.S. degree in Geology and an MBA, also from Texas Tech. In addition, Mr. Bray is a CPA.
Gary Briggs, Vice President of Technology
Petroleum Engineer with over 45 years of varied experience, including over 25 years in direct management positions. Extensive new technology development and organization start up background in a management capacity. Direct responsibility for the introduction of several new drilling related technologies, such as multi-lateral systems, composite oilfield tubulars, horizontal drilling services and MWD systems.
Specific start up and new technology activity includes: Set up and management of two full service MWD office locations for Teleco. Establish and manage one MWD operational office for Smith International Inc. Introduce, set up and manage horizontal drilling operations for Drilex. Establish oilfield composite tubular sales facility for Brunswick Composites. Manage technical sales of Multi Lateral Window Cutting Products line for TIW. Currently VP Technologies for SunTerra Oil & Gas responsible for the final development and commercialization of specialized Under Balanced related systems and equipment.
Hold two drilling related patents (5,094,304 & 7,373,995). Published numerous trade journal and SPE articles. Served on the Multilateral Wells SPE Reprint Series Special Committee. Current and/or past member of SPE, DEA, CEA & TAML.
Past employers include: New Systems Support, TIW Corporation, Lincoln Composites, Briggs-Holifield Energy Company, Drilex Systems, Inc, Smith International, Inc, Ashy Enterprises, Inc, Teleco Oilfield Services, Inc, Columbia Gas Development Corporation, Progress Drilling, Inc, Delta Drilling Company, Inc., Cities Service Oil Company, & Reed Roller Bit Company