Miller Energy gives Alaska CEO new deal

Miller Energy Resources Inc. has worked out a handsome new employment agreement with the company’s point man in Alaska.

Under the agreement, David Hall will receive an annual salary of $475,000, the company said in an Oct. 9 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also agreed to issue Hall an option to purchase 200,000 shares of Miller’s common stock at a strike price of $4.05 per share, which was the closing price of the stock on Oct. 7.

“Given the importance of our Alaskan operations and assets to our company and Mr. Hall’s history with and understanding of those assets, the board deemed it critical to secure Mr. Hall’s services in a written agreement,” Miller said.

Hall, 45, is the chief executive officer of Cook Inlet Energy LLC, the Anchorage-based subsidiary of Tennessee-based Miller. Hall also holds the title of chief operating officer of the parent company.

Nearly all of Miller’s oil and gas production comes from Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin.

Hall has a deep familiarity with the company’s main assets, having worked as a manager for prior operators Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. and Forest Oil Corp.

It was Hall who formed Cook Inlet Energy and teamed with the Miller folks in late 2009 to grab a collection of oil and gas properties out of Pacific Energy’s bankruptcy. The properties included Osprey, the southernmost offshore platform in Cook Inlet, and the West McArthur River oil field.

Since then, Hall has led efforts to rehabilitate and grow these assets. Miller also has been active in acquiring other assets such as the North Fork natural gas field on the Kenai Peninsula.

The new employment agreement appears to represent a big raise for Hall. At last report, he had a base salary of $375,000.

- Wesley Loy