Buccaneer Alaska promotes Rike to EVP

Buccaneer Energy has promoted Andy Rike to executive vice president of operations for Buccaneer Resources and Buccaneer Alaska, the company announced on Feb. 17.

Rike previously worked for Gulf Oil, Chevron and Schlumberger. For the last 31 years he has worked both onshore and offshore on assignments in Cook Inlet, France, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, the Rocky Mountains, Texas, Louisiana, South America and the eastern United States. He has a petroleum engineering degree from Louisiana Tech University.

“Andy has proven through his work history and his time with Buccaneer that he knows what needs to be done to be successful in this business. He is extremely good at bringing the right equipment to the table to create cost effective solutions to challenging problems,” Curtis Burton, CEO and managing director of Buccaneer, said in a statement. Buccaneer Alaska is the local subsidiary of Australian independent Buccaneer Energy.

Since arriving in Alaska in March 2010, Buccaneer has established five Cook Inlet prospects it hopes to explore in the next few years, including two offshore projects.

Buccaneer is trying to bring a jack-up rig to the Cook Inlet as soon as this summer.

—Eric Lidji