Unocal Corp. Alaska manager Chuck Pierce is being re-assigned to be the vice president for business development of Unocal's operations in Indonesia. He will be succeeded in his post by John Zager, who is appointed general manager of Unocal Alaska.
Pierce will be posted to Sugar Land, Texas, near Houston, where he will oversee Unocal's large deepwater development program in Indonesia. He was appointed vice president of Unocal Alaska in 2000.
Zager joined Unocal's Alaska business unit in 2001. He has held several positions with the company and has served as Unocal's Cook Inlet asset manager for the past two years. In 23 years with Unocal, Zager has served in numerous capacities as a geologist and manager in various business units, international development and corporate functions.
During his tenure in Alaska, Pierce has managed a redevelopment of the company's Alaska business. Unocal had been considering selling its Alaska assets when Pierce took the company's helm. The company decided to stay in Alaska and undertook a program to explore for new natural gas resources in Southcentral Alaska.
That effort has been successful. Unocal participated in the exploration and development of new gas fields near Ninilchik and Happy Valley on the Kenai Peninsula. He also participated in the construction of a new 12-inch gas pipeline to those fields, both of which are now producing.
Pierce has been an active participant in the Alaska petroleum industry and business community, and has been active in community affairs. He is currently on the board of the Resource Development Council and is now serving as the president of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, as well as the president for Habitat for Humanity in Anchorage.
