The board of Houston American Energy Corp. (ticker: HUSA) determined not to renew the position of John Boylan as chairman, president and CEO. The board terminated Boylan’s service in those positions effective June 7.
Houston American announced it will immediately commence a search for a new CEO. Pending hiring a replacement, Steve Hartzell, a long-time director and lead independent director, has assumed the role of chairman on a temporary basis and James Schoonover, a major investor in Houston American has assumed the role of interim CEO.
“After considering the recent slow pace of prospect generation, drilling and development and our low valuation, our board determined that a change of leadership was necessary,” Hartzell said.
Steve Hartzell, a long-time director and lead independent director, has assumed the role of chairman of Houston American Energy on a temporary basis.
“Our board believes that attractive opportunities remain available and that a leader with strong upstream oil and gas industry experience and access to deal flow will allow Houston American to tap attractive opportunities and develop and execute a coherent drilling and development strategy.
“Our goal is simple – to put the company back on a growth path to achieve sustainable and growing production, reserves, revenues, profitability and cash flow.
“We continue to hold valuable Permian Basin assets with existing production and an inventory of drilling prospects while retaining a debt-free balance sheet and access to public capital markets.
“We believe that these characteristics position the company to achieve our growth objectives and will allow us to attract new leadership with the necessary industry experience to develop and execute a sustainable growth strategy. We are appreciative of Mr. Boylan’s contributions to Houston American and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Houston American manages a property mix of producing and non-producing assets with a focus on the Permian Basin in Texas, Louisiana and Colombia.
